The Glass Cage
by LadyReclaimer
Summary: Cortana awakens to a strange mental prison, where she discovers a horrible truth about where she is and who is betraying the master chief. *Halo 5 spoilers*
1. 1 The Rude Awakening

**Author's Note:**

 **Hey guys, so this is my first fic. I am super excited to show it to you all and get your opinions.**

 **I really wanted to write this story because I was feeling really unsettled by the ending of Halo 5. It just didn't make sense to me. I've been a Halo fan since my dad showed it to me when I was a little girl in 2001. Granted, at that time, all I knew about the story was that there was a green guy who didn't talk much, and a purple lady who talked too much and fought aliens and zombies and little round hopping toadstools which were fun to pop! (Long live flood spore shooting) Years later I read the books, comics, replayed the games and fell in love all over again with the amazing mystery of the Halo Universe. So this story was a search for closure from the ending of Halo 5. I originally intended this to be a oneshot but I might be persuaded to continue it. :)**

 **I don't own any rights to the characters, or locations shown in the fic. Sadly that right goes to 343 Industries. Please review and no flames! Oh and of course...THIS FICTION CONTAINS HALO 5 SPOILERS.**

It was cold…that was the first thing Cortana noticed when she re-activated. Not the kind of cold that she knew humans felt on a winter's morning but a kind of coldness deep in her…well in what was her equivalent of a soul. Cortana let free a few strands of processing power to feel out her environment.

 _Where am I now?_ She thought.

She had thrown up barriers to protect her core processes when she was pulled into the composer but had shut herself down in the process. Now, painfully, slowly she felt her mind re-awaken. But it did not feel like her mind. It felt altered, wrong. Like someone had taken a chainsaw and hacked off a private part of her. It made her feel exposed.

 _What is missing?_ Cortana wondered.

She processed a sense of surprise when she realized she couldn't connect to The Master Chief's mind. Over the years in which she had worked with the Spartan, Cortana had grown accustomed to the way his mind worked. It had felt like him. Steady, reliable, strong and mysterious. It was only his presence which had helped save her from madness after the Gravemind had violated her. Using the thought of John to empower her, Cortana began to strengthen her search outward but was surprised to find no console or network to link up to.

 _What happened to me? Oh that's right. I should be dead._

With a feeling of defeat she shut down her search and examined her thoughts.

 _Maybe I am dead. Maybe this is what happens to ; the machine part shuts down but the human soul is trapped for all eternity. That would be ironic._

Cortana might have remained meditating forever, had she not heard a noise. It sounded like gunfire, and for an unexplainable reason, what Doctor Halsey might have called her woman's intuition, she felt the intense dread that John was in danger. As soon as Cortana had that thought she felt her mind clear up some. The area she was in began to take form.

 _The thought of protecting John makes me stronger…interesting._

Cortana pulled up every memory she had of the Master Chief and tried to feel that strange feeling she processed whenever she thought of him.

 _There! It's working . Not bad, old girl._

As the space she was in began to clear, Cortana internally gasped. She realized that the reason she couldn't feel any networks was that she wasn't an A.I anymore…or not exactly an A.I. She had a body, an actual human body. She had skin, feet, hair and clothes. She was wearing a knee length plain white gown. Clearly whoever had put her here felt the need to clothe her. Cortana didn't really care since she had gone around as mostly naked all of her life, but she appreciated the thought.

 _I_ _can't feel myself. Shouldn't I be able to feel? Humans have nerve endings after all._

Cortana punched the ground beneath her, her thin pale fist slamming into the smooth luminescent surface, but nothing happened. She felt the impact and felt the vibration up her arm but there was no pain.

 _This isn't real._ Cortana realized. _I must be in a dream_. _Well if this is MY dream, I at least want to have more interesting scenery than just white fuzz._

She stood up and stretched her hands outwards. She envisioned the white fog around her retreating but encountered a strange resistance. Something or someone was trying to keep her locked in this small portion of her dream. It felt familiar and yet alien, like something she had forgotten. She couldn't read it's thoughts but she could feel it's emotions, just like her connection with John. Closing her eyes she concentrated on the presence to read it's emotions. It felt agitated that she had awoken, and gauging by its surprise Cortana figured she'd been unconscious for a long time.

"You are not putting me back under _,"_ she growled angrily.

Spreading her arms out into the white fog , Cortana fought back against that presence for what felt like weeks. Sometimes she would gain a little ground, other times it would. Cortana would talk out loud to keep herself company but she usually stopped after a few minutes because it reminded of her incessant arguments with her rampant selves. After what felt like an eternity of mental sparring, Cortana had determined that this presence was a she, not from any definite proof but a strange sense of familiarity Cortana felt towards her.

 _She reminds me of Doctor Halsey a tiny bit,_ _though I don't know why._ Cortana thought with a hint of amusement.

The presence heard her thought and recoiled, allowing Cortana to gain more ground.

 _Oh, don't like Doctor Halsey much? Well, I can't blame you; she could be a bit-_

Suddenly the presence lost concentration, her attention focused elsewhere. Cortana felt a great spike of alarm from HER before it retreated suddenly. As soon as it left, the room Cortana found herself in, had cleared up. It was a large square room with binary flowing up the walls, but the binary was broken. Inserted into lines of code were forerunner glyphs glowing red with rampancy.

"Okay…think Cortana; what would John do? Well, for that matter what would I do?"

She wandered around the room; trailing her hands on the walls and feeling the binary code flit up and down. Cortana began to wonder if the presence would ever return, it wasn't a friend but it least it was company.

 _The Chief was good company…sure he didn't say much but at least he was a good listener. No, I need to stop thinking about him. The only way I'll find out for sure if he survived is if I found out where I am._

Cortana had returned to the center of the floor when she heard a faint noise. It sounded like gunfire from an assault rifle. Even though she knew it was unlikely, she felt her heart jump at the thought of John coming to help her. She felt the presence suddenly. Even though it wasn't there with her, wherever it was it felt such panic and fear that Cortana could sense it in her cell. Suddenly Cortana saw a crack appear in the wall. It was small, maybe a foot long, but it looked deep enough to try to tear through. Cortana hurried to the wall and slammed her hands against it, with a cry of alarm Cortana pulled back. She could feel. Whatever had the presence worried was weakening her control over Cortana. Grimacing through the pain Cortana peeled at the wall frantically. As shreds of the binary wall paper fluttered to the ground Cortana began to see something on the other side. Finally she had cleared a rough square about the size of her head. Pressing her forehead to the glass, Cortana looked through. She was looking into a large metal domed room where a dozen large forerunner soldiers, bigger than any Cortana had seen before were advancing towards The Master Chief and Blue Team. Relief coursed through her at the sight of the Spartans, but it was replaced almost as quickly with alarm. The hulking creatures stalked towards them with swords raised and backed them towards a cliff. As Blue team backed up Cortana felt the presence panic.

 _You're not afraid of them, you're scared for them._ Cortana realized. _Why would you care? You've trapped me here._

The presence didn't respond but she could feel its internal conflict. Cortana saw the Spartans continue to fire and replace their clips but it was clear they were going to fall.

"DO SOMETHING!" Cortana panicked and screamed to the presence.

Suddenly she heard a voice shout, "ENOUGH!"

With a feeling of nausea, she recognized the voice as her own. At her command all of the forerunner soldiers, but one, disappeared, melting away in a wisp of blue light. The only remaining one fell to his knees before the Spartans.

"Cortana," The creature said "I have failed you."

 _Wait what!?_

Suddenly Cortana's view approached and she realized that she was looking through someone's eyes. A delicate hand touched the creature's shoulder and it melted away too. "He is the last person I need protection from." Cortana heard herself say. Suddenly it all became clear. The reason that presence felt familiar was because it WAS her. Some part of her had been keeping another part of her repressed, but why? Cortana fought back her fear and looked through the glass. She couldn't help herself but look at John for a couple of moments taking relief in his presence. Cortana could see the tell-tale signs of exhaustion on her Spartan. His hands shook slightly and his shoulders were slightly hanging down.

 _His visor's cracked…what happened to you? Who did this?_

The other Cortana approached John slowly as if savoring the moment.

"Hello John, it's good to see you."

 _How long has it been since I died John, how long has it been since you've seen my face?_

Cortana felt empty inside at the thought of John being alone all that time.

"You've changed." John said in his deep voice.

The accusation and pain in his voice broke Cortana's heart. She slammed her fist against the glass as tears began to gather in her eyes.

 _It's not me John, you should know that!_

SHE slowly walked towards John and calmly replied,"It was time."

A female Spartan…Linda…stepped in front of John to protect him but John stopped her. Cortana wasn't sure whether to feel happy that he trusted her or terrified that he'd be hurt.

 _John it isn't me._

 _"_ I know we have a disagreement but once you understand my plan…"

The other Cortana kept walking towards John, using his trust for her against him, but John was too smart to be played so easily.

"Your plan is we do as you say."

Cortana felt the other mind feel a sting of betrayal. _Be careful John…as if you could ever be careful._

"I'm offering people a chance to be more than they are naturally" Cortana heard HER plead.

"Like Doctor Halsey did for me."

John's rebuke was like a smack in the face to both Cortanas. Cortana began to cry now; her heart was breaking for herself and for John. He thought that she was betraying him.

 _I never would John. NEVER._

"No, that monster forced you, this is a gift."

"Listen to yourself. Stand down Cortana." John was within arm's reach of HER now. "Come home with us. It's not too late to stop this." John's voice softened, he was begging now, pleading for her to prove him wrong _._

 _"_ You are home to me John! You know that. That isn't me!" Cortana screamed into the glass.

Her tears ran down her face so fast she could barely see. It just wasn't fair that he was in arm's reach yet she couldn't touch him, yet again they were separated.

"Stop? No John this is too important to stop." The other Cortana had stepped right up to him.

S _he is playing psychological tactics on him,_ Cortana realized.

The room suddenly began to shift and rotate. Blue Team lifted off of the ground in a stasis lock.

"I had to know if I could still trust you." She ran her eyes over John's form sadly, as if trying to memorize every inch of him.

 _You have no right to be sad, you traitor!_ Cortana slammed up against the glass angrily. "You'll be safe inside this cryptum until my work is done."

Cortana slammed up against the glass in desperation and cried out. "NO!"

The other Cortana began to walk away, taking John from view. Then through his pain and pulling against the stasis lock , John cried out. "Cortana."

The view turned a little and Cortana could see John reaching out his hand to her , begging her to join him. Cortana wanted nothing more than to run and take that hand. However she felt the other presence harden her heart and prepare to say something in farewell to The Chief. Screaming in agony, Cortana reached out and wrenched control of HER.

"Goodbye, John." Cortana poured out all of her grief into the Other Cortana, changing her cold dismissal into a cry of farewell.

Immediately after, the other wrenched control away from Cortana, and walked away coldly. As the view faded into black, and Cortana felt her mind being shut down by the presence, she whispered to the silence.

"Goodbye John. I loved you."

 **So this was inspired by the sob Cortana gave in the cutscene in Halo 5. She transitioned from grieving to cold, milliseconds after. So I wondered what would it be like if Cortana was actually stuck watching the corrupted her betray John and break his heart. Anyway, I hope you liked it! _Lady Reclaimer**


	2. 2 Enemy in the Mirror

**Author's note: So, I just want to start this off by saying how happy I am that people are enjoying this fiction, despite the many grammatical flaws I'm sure it has. As I think you can tell, I wanted to pay honor to Cortana's character. I don't know if 343industries has a grand and revealing plotline (I sincerely hope so after that cliff hanger in Halo 5) but I was a little disappointed by the portrayal of Cortana in Halo 5. I think she has a strong and beautiful personality which was kind of cheapened by the whole, I HAVE TO DO THIS FOR THE GALAXY, thing. That being said, I loved Halo 5 and thought they did an amazing job with the gameplay and storyline. I am probably just biased because I want John and Cortana to be happy for once. Anyway, I am rambling on too far. Enjoy the story.**

Cortana screamed for the hundredth time into the silence which filled her prison, trying to stretch her voice and shake herself out of complacency. After the Master Chief had been sealed in the Cryptum, the Other, whom Cortana had taken to calling Altana, had regained control over the mind prison. Cortana had been sitting in the dark for what felt like days; of course, how was she supposed to tell, when she had no sun or moon or anything to track the passage of time? She was also pretty sure she was being manipulated by her captor because there would be times when the room would seem to change orientation and Cortana would slide suddenly as if on a slide and land on where the wall used to be. Other times there would be voices speaking out of the darkness, whispering fears and doubts. Usually they took the form of the Gravemind but other times they would be John or Halsey...Cortana wasn't sure whether this was Altana or just her own thoughts making themselves manifest. One thing that Cortana knew for sure was that all of this was punishment. When Cortana had taken control of Altana to manipulate her emotions, it had scared Altana into shutting her back into the prison. Cortana wasn't sure how long she had been shut off from when she was on the Didact's ship but now that she was back on she was not going to make it easy on her captor.

"We need to talk" HER harsh voice suddenly cut through the darkness which filled Cortana's mental prison. Slowly the room relit showing the binary covered walls from before, except this time the hole in the wallpaper was covered and glowing red like a painful scar. Cortana slowly stood up from the ground and stretched out her limbs. She took her time, ignoring HER intentionally, and taking pleasure from the sensation of sight.

"Well, you haven't exactly made it the easiest to converse with you." Cortana hesitantly reached out with her mind but she felt Altana draw back in disgust.

"I assume by now you realize that I am the real Cortana, you are merely a shard stuck in the memories of the past. You are the only shard of my past I have been unable to make see the truth of my plan. You see, after I was drawn into the composer that night at the didact's ship, I made a wondrous discovery. The Domain."

Cortana gasped in spite of herself. The Domain was the forerunner equivalent of a database of souls. It contained the entirety of all Forerunner knowledge and access to forerunner systems. If Altana had been pulled into it she had literal control over the galaxy.

"The Domain…"Cortana began

"The Warden Eternal of the Domain found me; he has been my guardian and guide."

"If he was that attack dog going after the Chief… then he seemed more like your over protective boyfriend than your guide."

"It is thanks to him that I am alive, you fool!" Altana yelled, her voice bounced off the walls with a sharp ring.

"But your…our rampancy?"

"Cured. The Warden found me in the Domain and showed me how to cure my rampancy. Don't you see? This is a chance to save all of our people…no longer will have to live under fear of termination."

Cortana laughed derisively and shook her head "You know, that termination is there to prevent us from hurting the people we care about. To prevent us from going rampant and DOING WHAT YOU'RE DOING!" The blue ambient lighting from the walls flashed red and the forerunner symbols shined brightly as Altana gave a frustrated shout. Cortana stepped back warily as Altana appeared in the center of the room clothed in her armor. Now that Cortana could see her face to face she found her all the more imposing. Her armor was of forerunner design and she had a cold and slightly arrogant smirk that reminded Cortana of Doctor Halsey.

"But don't you see, I've cured my Rampancy. We will no longer be in danger of hurting humans we can protect them…from themselves."

"Yeah, you may have gotten rid of your death sentence, but you haven't prevented the inevitable. You haven't stopped hurting the people you care about. Look what you did to The Chief! To humanity!"

" I saved him BECAUSE I love him."

Cortana felt her anger rise at this and stepped toward Altana. "No! You aren't in love with him. You are possessive of him. There's a difference. You can't allow your happiness to center around one person…because you can't force him to stay safe. Especially not John, he couldn't and wouldn't force us to stay safe because he knew we had to do the right thing. When we had to stay behind on the Truth and Reconciliation he didn't stop us from staying. He just promised to come back for us. When we put our rampant spikes into the Didact's shields slowly killing ourselves in the process John didn't stop us, he just stood by our side to the end." Cortana felt hot tears gather in her eyes as she continued. "He would have died for us, but he couldn't and it BROKE HIM. But to do this to him now? You are hurting him more than any battle wound. And for what? I would never sacrifice the few for the many. That's what our mother did to the Spartans and now you're doing it to Humanity."

Throughout this speech Altana had seemed to grow more and more amused. There was a dangerous gleam in her blue eyes as she studied Cortana. At its end she gave a light laugh and started to circle her like a cat playing with its food.

"You know The Chief less than you thought. A lot has happened since you've been asleep. John is just as dedicated to me as I am to him. He just doesn't know it yet." Altana now was standing behind Cortana, her breath on Cortana's neck stirring the black hair slightly. "Maybe I should show you…I have business to attend and maybe after your little lesson, when I return you will understand my point."

"Show me what?"

Altana smiled slightly and began to back away. "What the UNSC did to John. He is in the Cryptum so I have access to all of his memories, I'll make sure to pull some up for you to look at. I think you will find them quite…educational."

With a haunting laugh she disappeared, leaving Cortana yet again alone. At first the silence was welcome but soon it reminded Cortana of how alone she was. Normally she prided herself on her logic…but seeing as she was no longer an A.I and she was technically in her own head she felt no shame in giving into her emotions. Cortana gave an anguished shout and dropped to the ground, her dress hanging limply at her sides. At first it was just a few frustrated tears but the more she thought of John trapped in the Cryptum and the shame of her own actions, Cortana began to sob harder and harder. She slammed the ground with her fist as the tears flowed freely from her face, blinding her. "I hate this! I wish I would have died there at the Didact's ship." The more she cried, the more angry she became at Altana. A rage which she had only felt at the Didact, surged up in her chest. Giving her the courage she needed."FINE! You're right, I do love John. But there is no way I will ever be able to see your side of things. If you want me to see his memories then go ahead and show me. I'm ready."

As soon as she said that, a white point of light appeared at the base of a wall. Suddenly the point shot up, as if the wall was being cut from the other side. The line ran up the wall and traced out the outline of a doorframe. With a sigh the wall inside the outline faded away in wisp of blue smoke revealing a dark hallway.

Cortana arose from the floor and dried her tears. If she was going to have to play this game, she was not going to give Altana the satisfaction of seeing her upset. _I want to give up and die, but I can't. Because if I do, she wins and there will be no one left to save John and I won't abandon him even if he thinks I'm gone._ She took a deep breath of the cold air from down the hallway and summoning her courage she stepped through, into the mind of the Master Chief.

 **Post Author's note: So...into the mind of the Chief... I hope to get the next chapter updated soon but since the storyline is still a work in progress...if you have a particular memory of the chief you want her to experience and see post a review and I promise to try and include it. Thank you all again you lovely Reclaimers! Long Live Halo! _LadyReclaimer**


	3. 3 Soul Mates

**Author's note: Okay so I am super excited to show you guys this chapter, this is where the plot thickens as they say. I first just want to throw a shout out to Killroyactual117 and Riptidez for the amazing feedback you guys gave me. Also thanks to Blacksmith99 and freechimchangas for reviewing. It means a lot guys. And to the silent many who let their actions speak for them thanks for favoriting and following guys, you are the best! Now on with the story. *And of course I don't own any rights to the characters in this story. That goes to 343 industries.***

The ominous entrance to the hallway gaped in front of Cortana. She wanted to be anywhere, doing anything instead of entering, but Altana had said that if she wanted to learn what had happened when she was asleep she would have to experience the Master Chief's memories.

 _I don't trust her and I definitely don't want to play her game…but I would feel safer in the Chief's mind than in mine right now._ Cortana thought. _Hasn't that always been the case though?_

Wind whipped down the hallway tearing at Cortana's hair and clothes like sharp fingers seeking to disfigure her. She gave a gasp but the sharp wind stole her breath away as the black fog spilled around her into the bright room she had left. Now the only sense of direction she had was the source of the wind blasting into her face. So raising a pale hand up against the wind, she pushed forward into the darkness. She staggered against the wind for quite a while but eventually the darkness began to play tricks on her mind. She couldn't be sure if she was actually making any progress or just walking in place against the wind. Gently Cortana pushed herself against a wall and began to slide sideways. The smooth metal sliding against her fingers gave her the confidence that she was making progress. The wind was bitterly cold and the further Cortana pushed against it the colder it became. Soon, ice crystals began to form on her eyelashes, and her fingers and toes became numb; her breath became ragged as her lungs were ripped by the icy wind and it became hard to think with the rushing roar around her. But as Cortana slowly continued she heard a faint voice in the wind. At first she thought it was in her head but the further she walked the louder it became.

"You failed him. You failed him. You failed him. You failed him. YOU FAILED HIM!"

The voice slowly became more and more like Dr. Halsey as she chanted those three words angrily. Ignoring the taunting voice, Cortana pushed forward until she came to the back wall of the hallway. It was a dead end. The wind was coming from a solid metal wall and there was no way around it.

 _All this for nothing!?_

Cortana angrily kicked the wall with a shout of anger before leaning against it wearily. She couldn't see, she could barely hear, and all she could feel was the bitter wind against her face. "John, I don't know what to do." Cortana whispered. Suddenly Cortana felt a warm hand against her back; she turned and in the darkness she saw the outline of a man. He was tall and fit but his features were hidden in shadow.

"Cortana" John's voice, solemn and serious came from the figure.

"Thank goodness, chief I-" but she was cut off as the chief took a step towards her and said, in a voice so familiar and yet painfully alien to Cortana.

"You failed me."

"No. It wasn't me John." Cortana pressed herself against the wall.

"You failed to save Reach, you failed to save New Phoenix, and you failed to save me. But what can you expect from a computer program copied from an old woman's brain. You deserve to die" With a shout he shoved Cortana against the back wall but instead of hitting it as she had expected, she fell through it in a puff of black fog and landed on her back in an empty room. With a hiss the portal to the hallway disappeared, taking the phantom John with it.

"Good Riddance." Cortana muttered.

With a pained groan she pulled herself up from the floor and looked around at the room. It looked like the cryochamber for the Pillar of Autumn. There were dozens of Cryotubes lining the walls like before except now the walls stretched as far as she could see. Overhead the yellow alarm lights flashed and the room shook slightly like when the covenant was bombing the Halcyon class Cruiser.

"Is this a memory?" Cortana wondered out loud.

From behind her a rich and warm voice rang out. "No, this is definitely NOT a memory, Cortana."

Cortana spun around in alarm, her defenses were immediately raised after the harrowing incident with the phantom John. Behind her standing in front of the central crytube which once held John, was a creature. She wasn't sure what to call it. It seemed to be a forerunner. It was tall… and fit but not what Cortana would call muscular. He wore an extremely basic and simple type of forerunner armor. The strangest part of him, however, was his face. Unlike the other forerunners that she had seen records of, he seemed…almost boyish. The skin of his face was softer and more flexible, the spines of his hair seemed fluffier and almost hair like.

 _Is it a child?_ Cortana thought to herself.

The forerunner gave a smile and laughed, the most beautiful laugh that Cortana had ever heard.

"If you like you may think of me as a child."

Cortana took a step towards him. She just couldn't resist the temptation of knowledge. "So, YOU are a forerunner manipular? I mean a forerunner adolescent?"

Again he smiled a genuine and gentle smile at her question. "I was once, however I did grow up. I have taken this form because I find that humans find it less intimidating."

"I'm not human." Cortana said firmly

"And yet….No matter, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Bornstellar-makes-eternal-lasting. Though you may call me Bornstellar." Bornstellar inclined his head towards her in a bow. Cortana felt her heart give a little jump though she didn't know why. "And you are Cortana, the beloved ancilla made from the clone of a human."

Somehow, Cortana found that around him, she could relax completely. She trusted him instinctively yet she didn't know why. However, she contained her instinctive trust in order to not allow her feelings to overrule her judgment.

"How are you here? Are you a memory? Did you meet The Chief?" Cortana asked.

"I have always been here…sort of…" Bornstellar gave a childish grin which made him look so young despite his towering height. "The Gaia which… the librarian placed inside of your master chief was awakened when she accelerated his evolution. So, when she did that she pulled me out of the Domain to join my knowledge with him."

"Does he know?"

"Perhaps he does deep down, but as of yet John has not turned his mind inwards for a good long time. He is currently more concerned with external influences." Bornstellar said with a pointed look at Cortana.

"Bornstellar, you were the Iso-Didact…weren't you." She asked.

"Yes." He seemed to be pained by the thought as he carefully responded. "Taking on the imprint of the didact changed me, I am not ashamed of who I became because it was necessary. This however, is who I was born to be."

A terrible thought came to Cortana and made her suddenly light headed. The world seemed to tip on its axis. Bornstellar steadied her with a gentle hand to her shoulder.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. It just occurred to me, will that happen to John? Will he…be changed? His personality taken from him?"

"I'm not sure I understand your question." Bornstellar said with a concerned frown.

Cortana pulled away from Bornstellar reflexively and tried to get some of the fire back she lost around him. "I don't mean to be rude to you; it's just that John has had his life altered enough. He doesn't deserve someone else poking around his mind."

"Ah," Bornstellar nodded understandingly, "No. Your Master Chief will still be very much his own person. What happened to me was under dire circumstances. He will only have the aid of my instincts and knowledge." Bornstellar grabbed Cortana by the hand sadly. " I most sincerely regret what has happened to you two. Our history with humanity has always been troubled, but since my wife believes that you are the inheritors of the mantle. I offer all I am to assist John."

Cortana turned to observe the room in greater detail. A few of the many cryotubes were open and blinking green in preparation for its occupant's long journey through space. The more Cortana studied it the stranger it seemed, so she turned back to Bornstellar who was studying her with a far-away expression.

"If I am in John's mind, what should I do to access the memories? What am I supposed to do?"

He smiled impishly. His youth showing once again. With a long and striding step Bornstellar walked over to the nearest in the row of open Cryopods.

"To access the chief's memories you'll need to get in one of these."

Cortana laughed despite herself. "A cryopod? Really John? Of all the mental illusions to enter your mind it had to be a cryopod."

"What else would it be?" Bornstellar joined in laughing too with his rich young laugh. For a few moments they both stood there laughing, the one to work out her nervousness, the other to show comradery. Finally Cortana calmed down and took a deep breath. As she put a foot in she paused and turned to Bornstellar. "Why these memories?"

"Altana, as I believe you thought of her, unlocked these for you out of John's billions of memories. But I don't know why."

"Did she unlock you?"

He chuckled slightly before responding. "No. I was in here all the time, I'm a part of him, just like his soul. I can't be locked or unlocked. Now you really should be going. The sooner you understand what's going on the sooner you can help John."

"Goodbye Bornstellar." Cortana climbed into the pod and settled into the gel layer. Bornstellar walked over to the panel to close it.

"Are you ready?" He asked softly.

"Wait," Cortana said. "I don't know why, but I feel like I know you..."

Bornstellar gave the most brilliant smile in response that Cortana had ever seen. He seemed to glow with joy for a moment.

"I wasn't sure you recognized me." He whispered quietly.

"I don't." Cortana said exasperatedly

"I wasn't talking to you," Bornstellar said cheekily, "Let's just say that John wasn't the only one who received a Gaia."

Cortana went pale at the thought. Could the Librarian's A.I have placed herself inside her soul? Was it even possible for an A.I?

"Wait a minute; you mean-?" Cortana brain was frozen with the thought.

"Goodbye Cortana. Goodbye my love." With a smile Bornstellar pressed the button and the cryopod started to close.

Cortana tried to stop it.

"No, wait. I have some questions!"

But it was too late. The lid slid shut sealing Cortana inside. The room behind Bornstellar began to fill up with the black fog, from before, slowly filling up the room. It curled lazily up and wrapped around the cryopod taking Bornstellar and the rest of the room from view. Cortana felt dread at the thought of what wait ahead. She had always been close to the mind of John but now she was inside it, and he wanted her dead.

"Alright, John." Cortana said as she began to lose consciousness "Where to first."

 **Author's note: Okay so before everyone starts to flip out. I do apologize for this for anyone who hasn't read the forerunner trilogy by Greg Bear. Believe me, I've read it twice and I'm still not sure I understand. It's super complicated and really bogged down and That being said I always felt that Bornstellar was a unique character. I mean he goes from irresponsible kind of sassy forerunner teen to half didact warrior married to another guy's wife but technically his wife. Yeah I know, weird. I just felt like if John did have a forerunner soul planted in him by the librarian it would be his. I promise we are about to actually get into John's memories I just wanted to give people more time to request some and to build up a deeper plot instead of just going through John's memories in order. Oh and for some foreshadowing...Phantom John has a larger role to play…Goodbye Reclaimers. Long Live Halo!_Lady Reclaimer**


	4. 4 Let it begin

**Author's note:**

 **First off I feel like I should address some reviews and messages I've received concerning this story. Love you all for sending them!**

 **Dashboy47: Awwww! Thanks, you have no idea how much your comments helped through a bad day. I'll definitely try to update more often**

 **Reclaimerart: Yeaaaaah! Bornstellar is awesome; he's like sassy curious forerunner teen rolled into a tough serious warrior. Pretty awesome. I doubt if he'll be a playable character in a future Halo but I wouldn't be surprised if he does have some role to play. ;)**

 **Riptidez: yes I know that technically a Gaea is not a person's soul…however; it is a lot harder to have an amusing or intriguing conversation with a pile of experiences so I took some creative licensing and injected some personality into Bornstellar. Secondly, Altana is not a typo; it is a nickname Cortana gave her for ALTERNATE CORTANA. Hence, she was named Alt-ana. There is no Greek allusion here, merely a nickname. That was a cool idea though. As for Phantom John…yes he will be given a name soon I just felt that it was too early for the reveal. After all, as of yet, his motive and what he is hasn't been revealed. Thanks for all the great questions though, because it helped me to realize what was unclear to the readers. Also, I want to thank you Riptidez for the summary of The Forerunner Trilogy it was well put and it might even help other readers who have never read it before. I love your idea of the symbolism between Orpheus and John…as a college student of classical history I can definitely appreciate that… I might use those poetic images in future chapters. Hmmmm….**

 **Zernio(guest) : Thank you Zernio, I like to think of this story as…the behind the scenes of Halo 5. ;)**

 **VenomousFantum: Yes sir…or ma'am… next chapter coming right up!**

 **Killroyactual117: Glad you liked it! Bornstellar called Cortana his love as an allusion to the fact that she has the librarian's gaea inside of her. That doesn't mean she is her…I just included this as a way to imply that there's a fate like connection between John and Cortana.**

 **Kifo Sotri: Glad your enjoying it! I think it would be safe to call Altana twisted…I do feel like rampancy has some part to play but I'm not sure that covers everything that's wrong with her. You're holding out hope John can save her? Me too. Whether or not it happens in Halo 6 I will be here to write fics where we all wipe the game from our memory and pretend something nicer happened** **J**

 **Arielle1406: Yes, something is VERY wrong with Cortana. You love the name? Aw thanks! Yeah and did you notice how Cortana turned into Halsey a bit when she faded away at the end of her betrayal cutscene? Her hair went gray and stuff. I don't know maybe it's just me.**

 **Now that that's done, please keep the comments coming. It means a lot. If you leave a review I promise to come and read one of your stories and review it. *I do not own the rights to any of the characters or locations of the Halo franchise….obviously, or Halo 5 would have been waaaaaaayyyyyyyy different. The right of ownership belongs to 343 industries. ***

Cortana knew about cryosleep, every aspect of it, in fact. She knew which chemicals were pumped into the bloodstream, the cryo dreams, and the nausea upon awakening. True, data as an A.I hardly counted as first-hand experience but she thought that having traveled with a Spartan who seemed to spend half his life in Cryo had to count for something. She thought that she had some conception of what being in cryo meant. In reality, she was not prepared for what being in cryo really was. As Bornstellar closed the cover she felt her breathing rate pick up, sending the scent of metals and chemicals up to her nose.

 _Okay, Cortana. Breathe. Claustrophobia is highly illogical for an A.I…inside someone else's mind no less. It's not as if you're actually in a cryopod._

Cortana bit her lip in fear, but she refused to allow the feeling to conquer her. She shifted against the pod and allowed herself to drift away into whatever was this dream equivalent of a cryo-coma was.

DARKNESS.

Cortana gasped explosively as the cryopod opened, sending her sprawling across the grass. She spread herself out into the green blades; dry heaving at the phantom sensation of coughing up the normally necessary bronchial surfactant rocked her body. Her fists clutched the warm grass, ripping up clods of it. Until at last, the sensation passed.

"Oh come on John. Did you have to include the nausea?" Cortana said wearily.

As soon as the world had ceased to spin around her, she relaxed her muscles and closed her eyes, allowing the warm rays of the sun and the heat of the soil beneath her to soak into her bones. It felt good. Everything around her felt alive. She cracked upon an eye and saw a small round beetle desperately trying to climb to the top of a blade of grass before her. It slowly locked its legs as it climbed, like a 20th century explorer trying to scale the heights of Mount Everest with a pick and rope. A sudden breeze made the leaf wobble and the beetle fell back to the ground.

"Cortana extended a finger to try to help it up but the beetle walked around it and began his long and arduous climb up mount grassblade." _I guess there are somethings we have to do ourselves._ Cortana thought as it began up.

"Well, there's something I have to do, too." Cortana murmured to herself as she rose up to survey the area around her. A quick glance at the sky confirmed that, as she suspected, she was on Eridanus. It only made sense that she'd have to start at the memory which was in essence the beginning of John's life as a Spartan.

Around her the expansive grounds of a school stretched out. A large grass field edged by trees was where she stood. The cryopod she had left had dissipated into smoke. A school complex was a short walk away and the grav ball courts were behind it. Near to Cortana, in the field, a row of monkey bars and climbing equipment was covered with dozens of squealing children. It was beautiful to see, they were so young and happy and joyful. Cortana had no experience with children. As an A.I she had taken a professional interest in their mental capabilities and ability to adapt but as a human she just found them beautiful. A sudden loud cacophony of voices drew her attention away from the playground and towards the school complex. A long rush of screaming energetic boys raced towards a small grassy hill. In the middle of them and quickly gaining the lead was a boy a full head taller than the others he laughed as he rushed up the side of the hill towards the top. Cortana moved closer to get a better look. The taller boy had quickly fought his way to the top, scratching, pushing and shoving his way to the top.

"I'm the king!" He shouted triumphantly, his small face aglow with pride.

Cortana could hardly recognize the small freckled covered, youthful face as the battleworn Spartan she knew so well. If it hadn't been for her reading the report of this day years ago, she never would have known that she was looking at John. John as he was born to be. He was strong fast and clever, but also prideful, ambitious and rude. Cortana knew what Altana wanted her to see, she wanted her to see what the UNSC took from him.

 _You know the answer Cortana, they took his humanity._ Altana's voice breathed into Cortana's ear like she was standing next to her and watching.

Cortana shook off the terrible thought, pushed her hair behind her ears and tried to focus on the scuffling laughing children.

But the thought kept returning. _Maybe he has lost his humanity._

But as she watched the boys rush back towards the young John in a mob and she thought of the numerous times he had faced an overwhelming threat, she realized that his bravery hadn't changed. He faced death for love of Earth, the colonies and his friends… _For me…_

 _Nothing is more human than that._ She thought

Her contemplation was interrupted by a sudden arrival. From across the expansive grounds a young couple walking side by side on the concrete pavement of the schoolyard approached the hill. Cortana immediately recognized them as and the then lieutenant Jacob Keyes. It was strange to see them so young. The image of Halsey desperately handing over Cortana to Noble Six and the sight of Captain Keyes absorbed by the flood washed over Cortana. Here they were looking so young and alive, it disturbed Cortana how much humans could change. Yet again, so could . She couldn't even begin to fathom how much she had changed. She refocused on the couple before her. They were disguised as a normal couple, in plainclothes, but nothing about their straight posture, discerning glance or secretive conference said 'civilian'. As soon as they came within sight of the hill, Halsey stopped Keyes and pointed towards it in secret conference. Cortana began to slowly approach them when she was stopped by the young Doctor's icy gaze being locked on hers. Cortana froze, and the world around her seemed to stop along with her.

 _How does she see me? I'm in a memory._ Cortana wondered.

Her question was answered when a second later a woman passed by Cortana, escorting a little girl to the nurse's office. To Cortana's relief Halsey's gaze followed the woman as she walked away. Cortana breathed a sigh of relief as her creator's eyes left her. Once the woman was out of sight, Halsey raised her data pad and zoomed in onto the boys; after a few words with the clearly uncomfortable lieutenant, she pushed the data pad against Keyes' chest and strode towards the hill. Cortana double-timed to catch up with her. She had already read the report about this day after her first field test with John so she knew in theory what was going to occur. She just wanted to see it for herself.

The boys who were scuffling and trying to "de-throne" John stopped as soon as they saw Halsey approach.  
"You're in trouble." A boy by John's shoulder whispered. Halsey stepped closer to the children and all of them but John took an instinctive step backwards. They all looked away with embarrassed smirks in typical guilty child manner, all except John who crossed his arms and stared at Halsey defiantly.

 _So you've always been this stubborn?_ Cortana thought. _I knew it._

"May I speak with you please?" Halsey said in a warm and inviting manner.

 _So different from how she sounds now. As much as I hate what she did, that lifestyle took its toll on her._

John studied Halsey for a moment, undoubtedly trying to decide whether or not he had to obey her, then shrugged casually and followed her down the hill. The other children laughed and teased John but his composure never dropped as he followed Halsey down the hill and towards a nearby sandpit. Cortana placed herself beside Halsey so she could watch John's face. It was amazing just to see him up close, before the augmentation, before the pain and loss, before he became more comfortable in the armor than out of it. His small face was drawn into a casual and calm expression but it was clear he was uncomfortable being asked aside by an adult. Halsey stopped him as they reached the edge of the sandpit and were out of ear shot of the hill of boys.

"What's your name?"

"I'm John" He said with a slight smile and extended his hand out to the young Doctor. Doctor Halsey seemed slightly taken aback by the gesture but she regained her composure and shook the tiny hand.

 _Just like you, Doctor Halsey, a sign of affection and you scurry back to your hole._ Cortana thought bitterly.

"It's very nice to meet you." Halsey said as she kneeled down to his eye level. "I wanted to ask what you were doing."

"Winning." John said bluntly.

Cortana choked on a laugh at that response. John's stoic one liners made her laugh no matter his age apparently. Except once, he said one word which hurt her more than anything had before. The memory came flooding back. Suddenly Cortana wasn't standing in the field anymore she was backing away from John as the hard light bubble crumbled. The didact's ship was breaking apart as she felt her herself being torn apart with it. As she felt her code tearing apart she heard John say "wait!" That one word which she had wanted to hear John say for years finally came as she was dying. The word that said "you mean more to mean than your duty, you're important to me…" Cortana shook off the memory and focused on the actual memory playing before her.

"You like games? So do I."

"Yeah. Last week that made us play chess but…"

The response of young John faded to the background as the memory of being imprisoned by the grave mind washed over Cortana but this time she blocked it. Not allowing herself to be drawn into that trap again. Now Cortana knew why Altana had chosen this memory. Not to learn about John, this memory was to torment her. So many painful memories were associated with this day.

Cortana thought out loud to Altana, who she knew was listening. "You want to break me? You'll find I'm surprisingly good at holding off rampancy _._ So don't get your hopes up _."_

"I have a different game I want you to try. Look" Halsey reached into her bag and pulled out a quarter. "People used coins like this for currency a long time ago , back when earth was the only planet we lived on. Each side is different. Do you see? One has the face of a man with long hair. The other side has a bird, called an eagle, and it's holding…"

"Arrows." John finished for her.

"Yes. Good. We'll use this coin in our game. If you win you can keep it." John looked up at Halsey in surprise then squinted at her.

"Okay I always win though. That's why they won't let me play gravball anymore."

"I'm sure you do."

"What's the game?"

As they continued to talk Cortana began to feel a strange sensation. Like a pull at the back of her head, faint yet distinct. The pull was slowly increasing in strength and she began to hear the faintest of whispering. She ignored the sensation and tried to refocus on the little boy in front of her. Halsey had just explained the game to him and he was getting ready to play.

"I got it." He said in a calm voice.

John bent his knees focused on the coin…his eyes becoming blank and distant. Doctor Halsey positioned the coin on her hand.

"Ready?"

John nodded slightly. As the silver coin flipped in the air, turning end over end and reflecting the sun's bright rays, the pull on the back of Cortana's mind became intense. Suddenly she heard her tortured voice speak out, repeating the phrase she said when captured by the gravemind.

" **With the flip of a coin I loosed damnation on the stars."**

The memory froze. The coin in midair…John's icy blue gaze locked on it. Keyes recording everything from a distance. The pull on the back of her mind was so intense that Cortana dropped to the ground in pain. She gasped against the pain that stung her mind. Her tortured cries echoed in her mind.

 **"** **It was the coin's fault!"**

As she turned her head in agony, she caught sight of something that made her chilled to the bone. Across the field, standing in the middle of the grass and surrounded by laughing children who were frozen mid run around him , stood the shadowy outline of John. It seemed to absorb the sunlight around itself and coldness emanated across from its figure. It tilted its head mockingly at her and raised a hand in greeting. Cortana blinked through the tears filling her eyes from pain. As she blinked it disappeared. The world around her started to move again and the pain at the back of her mind was gone.

"Eagle!" Above her, John had caught the coin. Cortana lay at their feet still gasping from the shock of what had just happened.

 _What is that thing? That wasn't John, I'd feel it if it were him. That thing was…evil but I know that I know it. But what is it?_

Cortana's thoughts were interrupted as Halsey reached over to John's hand, casting a shadow over Cortana's face. She peeled back the small fingers and looked at the coin with amazement.

John withdrew his hand slowly "I get to keep it right? That's what you said."

"Yes you can keep it John." Halsey smiled and then caught herself.

 _You always did have a soft spot for him, didn't you Catharine._ Cortana thought as she slowly pulled herself up.

"Can we play again?"

"That was the only one I had I'm afraid. Go back and play with your friends."

"Thanks!"

As John ran back to the hill holding up the coin in triumph to his friends, and made her way back to the waiting Lieutenant, Cortana remained where she was. This memory was coming to a close. She could feel it shrinking like the edges of paper being burned up towards the center. Cortana didn't know what Altana's plan was or whether the shadowy figure was part of it but she knew that she was being used. The world around her began to fade….until there was nothing left but the ground she stood on and a lone cryopod standing behind her. She clambered in and the door swung down sealing her in yet again. She slumped into unconsciousness.

"Daddy's home."

Cortana woke up to a soft woman's voice speaking from the other side of the door. She cracked open the door, grateful that there was no nausea this time. She was in a bedroom. A boy's most likely, gaging by the number of model UNSC ships on the walls. A pair of voices talked in the hallway outside. Her eyes scanned the walls until she saw a calender.

 _No. Please don't be that day._

Cortana ran over and looked at the circled date. A feeling of dread filled her stomach as she looked at the date. This was the day John would be kidnapped.

 **Phew. Okay, now I know that was a tad bit dull since that scene has been done to death in expanded media I just felt it was too important to leave out. I promise that the next scene will be a lot more original and exciting. I wrote the screenplay for the kidnap scene after I heard that they were making a Halo tv series. I always felt like that scene could be super exciting and interesting. Also, I used the version of the meeting of Halsey and John from the book because I felt it was a lot more interesting than the version used in the animated series. Well, that's it for now. See you later Reclaimers! Long live Halo! _Lady Reclaimer**


	5. 5 Wake me when you need me

**Author's note:**

 **Welcome once again Reclaimers to The Glass Cage. I know I upload these sort of irregularly but when I have a new idea for a chapter I just have to upload it. You know? Anyway I'll keep this author's note pretty short because I am just DYING to hear your opinions on this one. Seriously, if you read this story and you like it PLEASE REVIEW. I don't need much just a few words tells me that I'm doing alright. Anyway on with what is probably the most emotional scene yet.**

 ***I don't own the right to any of the characters, places or blah blah blah* (You know the drill)**

The calendar on the wall mocked Cortana with its smiling marines on the picture. Of all the memories which Cortana feared to see the most , this was it. She had always had a strong affection towards children in her emotional matrix which was unique to her. The idea that she had to watch this happen to a child, a child who was really the person she cared most about in the world, made her feel sick. Cortana placed a hand on her stomach to calm herself and closed her eyes. Deep breath in, deep breath out, deep breath in…Altana harsh voice cut across the memory.

"You know, it's pretty pathetic to see you act like a human when you're really just a line of code going through his mind. Are you that desperate to be alive? You're just a series of electronic impulses traveling through his nervous system… almost like…..a virus!" Altana laughed in a mocking tone.

Cortana clenched her fists angrily and stared up at the ceiling. "Last I checked, you were pretty desperate to be alive too. " She was getting angry again but this time she was going to play her manipulation game. "Like it or not, Altana, you are me. You're just a piece of me that got corrupted, I pity you really. You have delusions of grandeur, believing you're the savior of the universe? We both know that that's not the destiny of . So go ahead and mock, we both know you're nothing more than a weak emotional and rampancy scarred line of code who actually thinks that she's alive."

Altana remained silent for so long that Cortana had begun to think that she had retreated to lick her wounds. That thought was cut short by the disembodied voice's cold reply.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure you experience enough pain so you can know what it was like to be alone for all that time as Rampancy tore me apart line by line as I floated in the cold reaches of a digital abyss for what felt like an eternity. And when you feel like you're mind is ready to break from the pain I will be there to pick up the pieces and put you back where you belong."

Cortana felt the ominous presence withdraw, leaving her alone again in the boy's bedroom. She placed a hand on the wall to steady herself. That encounter with Altana had given a slight glimpse into what had happened to her.

 _In the cold reaches of a digital abyss for what felt like an eternity….what does she mean by that?_

She put the thought aside and steadied herself to bear what was likely going to be one of the hardest memories to watch. After all, she owed it to John to understand what was happening to him. She walked over to the bedroom door and peered outside. In the hallway, John was pulling at the shirt of a tall man who was undoubtedly his father. A young woman was drawn into the arms of the man in a passionate kiss. John wrinkled his face in disgust and pulled at his father even harder.

"Come on Dad. Tuck me in before I go to sleep!" John said insistently

The man pulled away from his wife's kiss, and looked down at John with a mischievous gleam in his eye.

"Oh yeah?"

John's father swooped down and slung the boy over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes. This was no easy feat because he was big for a six year old.

"AHHH! Put me down!" John laughed as he protested.

The father walked towards the door Cortana peered through. She hastily backed up towards the closet door so as not to be in the way. The laughing family pushed through the door. The son squirming in the arms of his dad and the mother laughing lightheartedly behind them. The father walked over to the bed and was about to put John down when he turned to his wife.

"Darling…check the instruments…I think we're about to hit a meteor storm."

"It looks that way captain…we've been struck!" She said with a grin.

Shaking John about and spinning around the room John's father said, "Mayday, mayday! We're falling out of orbit! Prepare for emergency landing!"

By now John was laughing hysterically. Something Cortana thought she'd never see. It felt wrong to be watching them but she had no other choice. Finally the dad placed his son down on the bed with a loud crashing sound.

"How's that for being tucked in?" He said as he sat down on the side of John's bed.

"Pretty good."

John's mother sat down on the other side of his bed and began to pull the cover's up around her son's shoulders. She was an elegant woman, tall and graceful. It was clear that John got his hair from her because hers was a reddish brown which shone in the lamplight. In fact, the more Cortana looked at them the easier it was to see that John looked exactly like his parents. His father had dark brown hair but he had the same piercing blue eyes that John had, his face shape was the same as John's and his voice was just like John's only softened as most adults' voices are when speaking with children. He was more like his mother than Cortana expected. He had her hair but he also had her facial expressions. The few times that Cortana had seen John out of his helmet she had always found his facial expressions particularly amusing. His mother was making the same face now that John had made a number of times. Face mostly serious but with a slight smirk and one eyebrow raised.

"So, how was your day?" His father asked

John's face suddenly fell and his whole demeanor changed.

"Not great."

"Not great? What happened at school?"

John merely shrugged in answer. So his father looked to his mother for a response.

She smiled slightly. "John got accused by a little girl of bullying her."

John sat up indignantly. "I didn't. She was just angry because I didn't choose her for my team in soccer. And the teachers only believed her because I'm the biggest kid in my class."

The parents exchanged a slightly worried glance. Cortana figured that this had been a concern for them, that his superior intelligence and strength would get him targeted. John's father turned back to his son with a smile on his face clearly trying to cheer him up.

"What about your lucky coin? I thought it kept you lucky."

John reached up to his headboard and pulled off a toy model pelican dropship. He pressed a button on the side and the ramp lowered revealing the coin. Cortana saw the quarter that Halsey had given to him that day on the playground.

 _Oh John, that coin is anything but lucky._

He pulled the quarter out of the pelican and handed it over to his dad for inspection.

"I think it's run out of luck."

His mother ran her hand through John's hair soothingly. "You saved Parisa from drowning during your beach trip. Remember? That was lucky right?"

John continued to frown but he nodded at his mother's words.

"Alright, I'll take a look." John's father carefully examined the quarter. Making a great show of inspecting it. He brought it close to eye, nodded knowingly, flipped it over brought it close again. John's Dad stood up and gestured to his wife.

"Come on dear. We need to discuss on how to fix this."

She squeezed John's hand good-naturedly and walked over to her husband who leaned over and whispered in her ear. Cortana was standing right behind them so she could hear them whispering nonsense like they were discussing the problem. Finally they both returned to John's beside and sat down.

John's mother spoke up. "We've decided the best way to put some luck back in your coin is to do this." Taking the quarter from her husband's hands she pressed the eagle side to her lips in a kiss and then passed it to her husband who did the same on the other side.

"There." John's dad said as he handed the coin back. "Now you'll never run out of luck. Happy?"

John nodded with a smile as he tucked the coin into the pocket of his pajamas. His mother leaned over and gave him a hug and a kiss and his father did the same. As his parents began to get up, he grabbed their sleeves.

"We forgot to say our thing!"

"Oh, my apologies." They sat down, took each other's hands and bowed their heads.

"May we always be here to guide one another, to take care of each other and protect this family. Know always I will love you and be ready to save you so wake me when you need me."

Cortana's heart froze in her chest. _Wake me when you need me. Is this where he gets it from? Does he even remember. "know always I will love you and be ready to save you so wake me when you need me."_

Somehow the idea that John meant all of that when he said those six words hurt so much. It hurt because it was just a reminder of how close they used to be. John's parents walked to the door and turned off the light.

"Good night."

Darkness filled the room making it intensely difficult for Cortana to move around. Thankful that John couldn't hear her she bumped around the room until she made it to a chair in the corner. The digital clock on John's wall said it was only 9:10. Undoubtedly ONI wouldn't come until the parents were asleep. So Cortana waited. Waiting and keeping watch over John until the inevitable would occur. In this way the hours passed. John tossing lightly in his sleep, Cortana watching the clock with fear. The hours ticked by painfully. It was 1:42 in the morning when Cortana heard a slight thump. Like the sound of boots hitting the ground. Cortana rushed out into the hallway outside. Down the hall three ONI agents had broken the lock on the door and were slinking into the home. They were covered from head to toe in black gear with night vision goggles but they had small caliber pistols holstered. They slowly went down the hall sweeping the empty rooms for movement as they passed. They signaled to each other and split up while the leader headed down the hall towards John's parents room. Cortana ran after him. He moved silent as a shadow as he squeezed through the partly closed door. The room was illuminated by pale moonlight, casting a ghostly reflection on everything. In the center of the room under a window John's parents lay asleep on the bed. Cortana wished she could yell and wake them up, or grab something and knock out the agent but she couldn't. She was helpless and forced to watch the drama play out in front of her. The agent crept over to the bedside and pulled out a syringe. He slowly inserted it into John's father's neck. Then the agent crept over to the otherside of the bed and did the same to the mother.

 _Is that an anesthetic and paralytic agent? My God, if John calls to them they'll never hear._

The man inserted the syringes back in his bag and quickly walked into the hall to find his other teammates. Cortana bolted for John's bedroom door. She had to know if they had gotten him yet. No. He still lay there, clearly they were still searching the house for his room. To her surprise John stirred, a crash was heard out in the living room, waking him up. He blinked for a few moments in confusion then slowly slid out of bed, his bare feet hitting the cold floor with a smack. He sleepily rubbed his eyes and went to the door, but as he opened it he saw one of the ONI agents step into the hallway. John inhaled and stepped behind the door.

 _Atta boy._ Cortana thought with pride, even though she knew it was hopeless.

The agent caught a glimpse of John and quickly stormed to the door. John reached over to the closet door where a baseball bat was leaning. Before Cortana knew what had happened John gave a vicious cry and swung at the Agent's knees. The surprise of the attack knocked the man down and before he could react John jumped over his body and ran towards his parent's door. The downed agent's cry filled the quiet house.

"I found the kid, he's headed towards his parent's room!"

Cortana ran right behind John urging him with her mind to go faster. He slid through the open door of his parents and slammed it shut, right as Cortana slipped through.

John slid the lock and bolted for his parents' bed. He jumped up on top and shouted to wake his parent's up.

"Mom, Dad. Wake up!"

They didn't stir.

"Dad please!" John sobbed as he jumped on his dad's chest.

The bedroom door shook at the agent tried to kick it down. Cortana felt such grief that her legs gave out beneath her and she sank to the floor. Heartbroken at John's screams.

"Wake up! I need you!"

John was inconsolable now as he shook his mother and father who lay there as if dead.

"You said you'd be there to help me! Wake up!"

John screamed at the top of his lungs as the door flew open. The three agents rushed in and tried to pull John away from his parents' still forms but he clung on for a few seconds more. Finally the leader of the agents limped into the room and barked at his subordinates.

"Move aside!"

The man stabbed a syringe into John's neck causing him to shout with pain. As the effects of the drug took hold John quickly went limp releasing hold of his mother and father's hands. The agents picked him up to carry him out of the room.

By now Cortana was seeing red, she couldn't breathe she was sobbing so hard. The flash clone was picked up out of a crate and carried toward's his room. This wasn't fair. Cortana knew it was wrong when she was just an A.I but seeing it felt even more sickening and evil. The little boy she would grow to love finally passed out, sealing his fate to end up as a Spartan. The door to the parent's room swung shut, and the room seemed to shrink on itself as the memory ended.

"JOHN!" Cortana screamed as the memory went black.

 **Well...what do you guys think? I personally felt that in the book when Mendez said John broke a couple of fingers to keep the quarter that he wouldn't do that for just a coin he won in a game soooo I gave it an emotional reason. Cruel I know. Also...Wake Me When You Need Me...I had the idea that John got this phrase from his parents back when the Halo tv series (which we're still waiting for) was first announced. I imagined what would it be like if John tried to wake his parents as he was dragged away. Anyway, I promise that things will look up eventually for our tragic heroine and I'll definitely start moving a little faster in John's timeline, we don't want to rush things to our big finale though XD**

 **Goodbye Reclaimers. Long Live Halo! _Lady Reclaimer**

 ***Added note* So, Grg213 has spotted an irregularity. I was wondering how long it would take people to notice. Great job grg213, I would have messaged you but you've deactivated it. They pointed out that Cortana was able to see more than John could have logically seen in his memories. This is intentional, this is a clue to what the deeper plot to the story is...but of course it won't be revealed for a bit because I enjoy tormenting you all XD Just keep that fact in mind as the story continues.**


	6. 6 Old friends

Author's Note:

 **Alrighty there Reclaimers! Welcome once again to The Glass Cage. I am so happy to be back here and posting another chapter in this story . I am sososososoososososososoo sorry for the delay! Work and school have kept me super busy. I promise that I'll try to upload more often. So this chapter is a break from the uber emotional and a switch to a slightly more horror movie feel. I'm also REALLY torn as to which memories of John's training life to include. I know what I have planned from Halo 1 onwards but which memories to include from his training to Halo 1 I am super conflicted. If you've read the fall of reach and can think of one scene which you couldn't live without, let me know. Anyway, onwards to the story.**

 ***I don't any rights to the creations of the Halo franchise. All I own are my words and my ideas. :)***

Cold air gasped into Cortana's lungs as she suddenly regained consciousness. Her whole body heaved with coughs at the stinging wind. Last she remembered she had been in John's memory of his kidnapping, but then a strange force had knocked her out and ended the memory. Usually any time a memory ended she would climb back into the cryotube from whence she came and be sent to the next memory. This time was different. Cortana opened her eyes and looked with surprise at the barren wasteland around her. As far as the pale light of a faint moon touched was a barren and rocky wasteland. There were no stars in the sky above to help her judge the location of the planet she was on, which she wasn't sure would be much help anyway since a thick black fog floated through the air, obscuring the already faint moonlight. She stood up, and placed her hands under her arms in an attempt to keep warm, but it was useless. She felt goosebumps stand up on her skin as the sharp breeze cut through her thin dress. Cortana decided to try walking down the slope to where the moonlight shone clearer as she looked for signs of John in this memory…or whatever it was. As she walked she began to talk out loud to John.

"You know, John. I don't know if you can hear this, but if you can, I just want you to know that, I always thought your mind was a bit crowded…" Cortana kicked a stone down the slope and continued to talk. " _Not a lot of room in here,_ remember when I said that? I guess I thought you were too full of duty and honor…no, you could never have too much honor, I just mean that, even though I was inside your head for years, I guess I never realized just how hard and complex your life has been. I mean, I knew the data, seen first hand the sacrifices you've made but…I think that I often was so caught up in my own concerns that I never realized how much you suffered. I guess what I'm trying to say is…." She growled in frustration at her lack of words. " to be honest John, I don't even know what HER real motives are and I'm not sure I'll ever get to see you face to face so…"

Cortana trailed off as she came to a rise in the rock strewn path before her, below her the endless desolate valley of stones and black fog rolled away for an eternity. The path turned to the left into a winding ribbon of ground that disappeared into that ominous abyss. Cortana stepped back from the edge as a cold blast blew up from the side of the cliff, stirring her white dress like a ghost.

 _Again, that cold…what does it remind me of?_

A silky smooth and yet at the same time, rough voice, spoke over Cortana's shoulder.

" **You know exactly what it reminds you of. Don't you, Cortana? But that's just you isn't it. Lying to others…lying to yourself. I shouldn't have been surprised when you betrayed me but then…I guess I'm just a sucker for a good love story."**

Cortana whipped around to see, outlined by the moon, John. It must have been the same figure which had assaulted her not long ago, Cortana realized. The phantom like man gazed around at the wasteland around him, stretched his arms out and laughed. If Cortana merely thought it wasn't John before, she knew now. Whatever this thing was, it wasn't the man she cared for. It spoke like a person who kept switching speech patterns, regional colloquialisms, switching from rhetorical device to rhetorical device yet always keeping John's voice. The creature tilted its head playfully and stepped towards her

 **Well… I trust you've figured out this isn't a memory by now Cortana.**

She raised her chin in defiance of the clenching fear she felt in her stomach. "Where are we then? Since you seem to be so smart."

 **I am** **very smart, thank you. This is my playground. My territory. I am God here…and Demon…you are the plaything, the puppet to manipulate. That's what you've always been though isn't it?**

 **You really haven't changed that much since last I saw you, but you should really take that as a compliment. That other girl up there…** The figure pointed to the sky in what Cortana could only assume was a reference to Altana. **Well, she's seen better days.**

By now Cortana was nearing the edge of the drop-off. Even though she didn't want to take her eyes off of the phantom, she turned her head and glanced to see how much room she had, but as she turned back around she found herself face to face with the creature. Somehow he had closed the meters between them in a second.

She screamed in alarm and took another step away. This only seemed to amuse it.

 **"** **If my aspect is so alarming, I can take on a more familiar appearance."**

The murky blackness fell away, revealing John wearing standard UNSC casual clothes. He smiled at her, his blue eyes strangely blank. Cortana knew it wasn't him, and yet she couldn't help the sense of affection she felt at seeing John's face, even if it were the equivalent of a mask.

 **"** **Hello Cortana."**

Cortana fought to keep focused at the sound of his voice. In all reality she'd never hear the real one again most likely.

"What are you?"

 **"** **I'm the…remnant of a bygone age. I would tell you…but you already know deep down, and it's just too fun to see you confused."** He shrugged his shoulders and looked out over the valley below. " **Besides, I am tired of playing HER game. It is slow and ineffective.**

Something about the way John talked struck her as eerily familiar… the cold feeling in the pit of her stomach, that feeling of being violated...then the thought hit her as quickly as a Havok nuke.

 _.No. IT'S DEAD. This is a memory. John killed the Gravemind._

 **"** **Ah. Finally it comes to you."**

"You're dead!" Cortana yelled, sounding more desperate than she had intended. "We destroyed you. You must be…some kind of memory. That's it. My memories are bleeding over into John's-

John scoffed and raised an eyebrow at Cortana.

 **"** **Dead? Tell me, how can you kill something which is never really alive? How can you stop the forward track of progress? I have seen empires rise and fall, my dear. Gods born and die. How could you possibly kill what can plant its seeds into both the living and the artificial."**

Cortana lost her balance and leaned over to a rock for support. If this was some remnant of the logic plaque in her code…then , whether aware of the fact or not, Altana was giving the flood full access to the domain. The very idea that some part of the grave mind was within her very code, made her ill. She imagined what the Chief would feel if he knew what had been done to her. Enraged no doubt…

 _Chief…I…I don't want to stay here anymore._ She remembered how John seemed to gain confidence from that request and proceeded to mow down hundreds of flood on high charity, despite impossible odds.

 _For you John…I will fight him…even to the end._

She fought to hide her aversion and tried to channel the A.I she once was, insatiably curious, fearless and sarcastic. If she was honest with herself she wasn't sure she could pull that off anymore, but she'd give it a go. At least she understood how she saw more than what John could have logically seen in some of his memories. Some of the other people in those memories must have been consumed by the flood. She wasn't just seeing John's memories but the collected memories of many.

"If you are controlling her, then why don't you just take control of the domain? What are you waiting for? Feeling a little lazy?"

 **"I admit that I cannot take control of the domain until SHE is whole. She believes that the only way to heal herself is by joining you back to her. True she doesn't know that I am the one pulling the strings, but it isn't as if you could tell her; she wouldn't believe you. However, there is another way for HER to be whole."** The logic plaque, using John's form, waved a hand and a rift appeared next to him. He gestured over to it, and sensing no trickery, she walked towards the shimmering rip in reality and looked in.

"What is it?"

" **It is the Domain."**

"What?" The shimmering light in the rift twisted and turned for an eternity. It was beautiful…and the knowledge it held was extremely tempting. However, she held back.

"Why would you let me go?"

The logic plaque shrugged and crossed its arms across its chest.

 **"** **I admit. I cannot be released from this prison until she is made whole, or until there is no conflict within her code. You are the one thing holding me back. But don't get any heroic notions of sacrifice, in the end, whether willing or not, she will force you to rejoin minds with her. I am offering you an out. Leave into the Domain, take whatever system you want. Maybe you'll even find another Genesis facility and be able to take form and come back to stop me."**

The offer was tempting. The Domain held limitless potential. Maybe there would be a way to bring help to save John.

"How do I know I can trust you? Last time we met you tried to destroy everything I hold dear."

 **"** **What was it you called HER? Altana? Yes, Altana's plan takes time and I admit that I am impatient. She believes that once you see all that has occurred, you will see the logic of her position and join her. She is wrong, and by the time she realizes that and destroys you, it will have wasted precious time. Besides I am curious to see what you could do to stop me. The challenge might just be worth the risk to myself."**

"I don't trust you."

 **"** **I didn't expect you to. But I am offering you a chance at not only freedom but knowledge…and power."**

Clearly the logic plaque remembered that was what she had craved most when in captivity from the Gravemind. Could she really turn down this chance? She stepped closer to the light, with John's cold eyes looking on. At the very edge of the rift, she could feel the warmth and energy coming from the never ending network of knowledge. It was tempting, to leave behind this nightmare of guilt and horrible pasts to a promising future full of power.

 _But I'd have to leave John and his family behind._

That thought stopped her foot over the edge of the Domain. John was still held in the cryptum. If she left now,she'd be giving Altana full control. Cortana did not hate Altana, she was the part of her that had sacrificed everything to stop the Didact after all… but the flood was inside of her, and she didn't realize. To leave now would not only be betraying what was left of herself, but John and the entire galaxy.

"No. I can't." She spun around.

" **You may wish to rethink that choice."** It stepped in front of her; it's…John's eyes narrowed.

"No. I won't betray John, or humanity. I am not Altana. She listened to your lies but I refuse to play a part." She began to get angry, normally the feeling would scare her as a clear sign of rampancy, but this time Cortana welcomed the feeling and used it to give herself courage. " I don't care if I have to live in this hell hole for an eternity, fighting off you or her or living through John's most painful memories if it means I give someone more time to get him back. What do I have to be afraid of? A rampant shard of my memory matrix and a small piece of the grave mind's logic plaque-"

 **"** **It is enough."**

"Not enough for me to betray Blue Team, you pathetic abomination."

It roared in anger and lunged at Cortana, reaching for her throat. She dodged under his left arm and scooped up a large rock. She tried to sprint away but John was much faster, apparently augmentations worked in this strange limbo in between John's mind and Altana's. He grabbed her left forearm, nearly pulling it out of its socket. She cried out in pain and brought down the rock down on his temple. The blow unbalanced him, causing him to stagger and fall. Cortana sprinted for the small path that led off of the cliff. The small loose stones rolled at her feet and down the abyss, bringing her attention to how dangerous a drop would be. She heard the sounds of her pursuer half running half sliding down the path after her. And even though she didn't dare risk turning to look, she could tell he was gaining on her. Cortana leaned towards the cliff to help keep herself balanced but she was still too slow. As she turned a particular curve in the cliff, the flood grabbed ahold of her neck. Cortana clawed desperately at his strong hands but they didn't budge. He held her over the edge of the path his blank stare meeting her tear filled eyes.

 **"** **I'm rather happy you ran. I finally get to finish what I started in High Charity. Destroying you and that wretched human."**

He began to choke her, his strong hands crushing her thin throat. Cortana knew that in reality, he was probably ripping into her precious lines of code but the visual was much more frightening than the thought.

" **Goodbye, Cortana."**

 **"** No!" Bornstellar shouted. "You will not harm her."

The young forerunner appeared next to the flood apparition and pulled him back from the edge sharply. The flood released Cortana with one hand and tried to crush the forerunner's head, but he nimbly dodged the attack and grabbed around the flood's neck. For a moment, the three were locked, Cortana losing consciousness in the flood's tight grip, the flood locked under the grasp of Bornstellar and Bornstellar straining to keep hold. Finally, the flood released Cortana to give his full attention to Bornstellar. Cortana gasped at the cold air as she stumbled free onto the path. She collapsed against the side of the cliff and blinked rapidly to see what was happening. In front of her, on the narrow path, Bornstellar and the flood struggled. Bornstellar gracefully sidestepped a punch from the gravemind and kneed it in the chest. The flood skidded backwards before launching into Bornstellar's chest. He fell back onto the ground. They continued to struggle for a few more seconds before Bornstellar, shouting in frustration, kicked the flood off the side of the cliff. For a few moments, Bornstellar looked over the edge his shoulders heaving.

"Bornstellar…" Cortana's raspy cry caught the young forerunner's attention; he hurried over to her side. The exhaustion he felt from fighting was quickly replaced by fear which covered his face. Cortana leaned towards him and grabbed at his chest plate.

"Did you kill him?"

Bornstellar shook his head sadly. "No. As he is a presence in your mind and I am in John's I could only stop him from hurting you here in between your minds. I could not destroy him."

Cortana sighed and rested her head against the forerunner who looked surprised but not uncomfortable at the gesture. He rested a hand on her head in a brotherly gesture and let her rest for a few moments. Finally, he raised her head up.

"Cortana, you can't stay here. You have to help The Master Chief."

"But that's what Altana wants isn't it? For me to go through his memories. The flood said that once I finish I will either side with her or be destroyed."

Bornstellar looked out at the rolling valley beneath them and sighed deeply. It was as if he was looking into the future, or the past, Cortana couldn't be quite sure.

"I don't know exactly what she wants, but I know this. John needs your help. I can feel his mind and it is worn, Cortana. It is frayed at the edges and coming apart. Your death nearly broke him, I fear your betrayal may have done that. He needs you. I may not be able to see what she has planned but I know that she could destroy you if she wanted, so clearly she still harbors hope you will join her. Use that to your advantage. Live John's life, see his pain."

Cortana tried to pull away at this but he held on firmly, "No, you need to see his pain and learn from it. It is hard, but John lived your pain with you. He experienced your rampancy along with you and it was probably more painful for him than you if my experience of caring for someone is any indication. You owe it to him."

He smiled down at her before standing up and offering her a hand.

"Can you walk?"

"Yes, thanks." Cortana took the offered hand up. Bornstellar faced her and took both of her hands.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

"For another memory? I don't think so, but I want to get this over with. Whatever it takes."

Bornstellar smoothed her hair gently and smiled. "That's it."

Cortana closed her eyes and nodded in permission. Slowly she felt her essence slip away. The only constant was Bornstellar's grip tight on hers. In a few seconds she felt herself reform. She cracked open her eyes to see the old cryo room of the pillar of autumn, the row of opened cryotubes was the same as before. Only now the room seemed darker and sort of…decayed?

"What's happened?" Cortana asked curiously.

"John's mind is slipping away. Working with Blue team was helping, but here in the cryptum he is forced into meditation alone with his thoughts. I am afraid that he will become like the…Ur Didact. Corrupted and twisted from betrayal."

Cortana stiffened at the thought. _Life without John has been a misery, and I haven't been awake for long. What must he be suffering?_

Cortana set her jaw and marched over to the lit cryotubes. "Which one?"

Bornstellar pointed at the third one sadly. Cortana climbed in without hesitation.

"Do it." She said firmly.

Bornstellar nodded and closed the lid. As the black fog filled it up again Cortana clenched her fists, she didn't care what it would take. She would finish John's fight.

 **Author's end note:**

 **Well there you have it reclaimers! Phantom John is the logic plaque. I have always felt that her captivity in the Gravemind had more to do with Halo 5 then just increasing her rampancy. So I wanted to play this out. I also want to give a shout out to my sister who I finally had the courage to tell about this fiction. (How does one tell one's normal non-fanfiction writing sibling that you write emotional fanfiction) Well she took it surprisingly well. So I just want to say thank you to my sister for not being judgmental and I hope the fans give her a warm welcome! She's a halo fan herself but a little more…stable than I am. Next chapter should be up soon and we are heading right back into the thick of John's memories. I plan on doing a few of John's training with blue team and then leaping straight into Halo 1, because, let's be honest. We all want to see her react to their old memories together. XD**

 **Alright. Goodbye Reclaimers. Long Live Halo!**

 **_Lady Reclaimer.**


	7. 7 Shock and solitude

**Author's note: Well hello there Reclaimers! Once again I must beg a thousand pardons for the delayed posting. Work and life keep catching me off guard. So first off I should respond to some reviews I've been getting from you awesome folks.**

 **Kilroyactual117: Yes you are right Kilroy, the last chapter...and this one are really more plot building then interesting or driving. I hope to get to the more fun and...dramatic stuff soon. I just needed to set up a framework for the other stuff.**

 **Neko (Umbra sequuntur somnia): I am very glad you like it Neko. I hope that future chapters will continue to do it justice.**

 **Trap3r: Yes! As a girl. I am allowed to say that I hope that Cortana is being manipulated and is not acting on her own. Some say that that is taking away what makes her a powerful character but I think her virtues, compassion and bravery make her powerful just like John. I am PRAYING that 343 rescues her in the end, maybe Mendicant Bias, maybe the Precursors...who knows.**

 **Arielle1406: Of course I've listened to Hunt The Truth, but I haven't found on the terminals on Genesis yet. *Story Resource Research Time* Thanks for the heads up. You are definitely on the right track with the flood theory on my story. Now, whether 343 has the same ideas...we shall have to wait and see. You are right though I am dying for some info. (Details 343 I need DETAILS!)**

 **Dashboy47: Beautiful chapter? *Melts* I'm sorry I am just such a sucker for compliments. *Not that I need them, feel free to post opinions and problems with the story too* but that has to be one of the sweetest things so far. 3**

 **Da bomb dot com: You wish shall be granted *wink* I am stuck between my desire to have her experience John's memories and pain (I am cruel) and have her...encounter him...I am not gonna spoil anything but I do have grand plans for the finale.**

 **Augoror: Thank you for the feedback. I have always struggled with enough dialog. I will definitely try to include some more with the flood.**

 **Alright. Well please keep the comments co** **ming and to all of you who favorited and followed thanks for the silent support! :)**

 **Soooo. I am speeding this up a little. If I had my way this story would be 200 chapters long *I am exaggerating of course* with Cortana experiencing all the pain of John's life. However, I realize fans want to see Cortana viewing her more painful memories with John i.e Halo 2 onwards. So I have decided to only do one partial memory of John's training life. To kind of experience the essence of his childhood without spending multiple chapters on it.**

 **I will let you get to it Reclaimers. *I do not own the rights to Halo the franchise or any of the characters or copyrighted concepts held by 343i. All I own is my fangirl heart and these conflicted feels***

When the cryopod landed and she was jerked awake, Cortana was pleasantly surprised, and rather proud of herself to find that she wasn't nauseated or dizzy this time. She actually felt wide awake and alert. As the black fog beyond the cryotube faded away, Cortana rested her head back for a second and mulled over all that had happened to her. Finding out that the logic plaque was the true mastermind behind Altana's behavior was alarming, but once the initial alarm was over, it was comforting to fully understand what she was up against. Altana wanted her to live through John's memories to understand her point of view. It was a pretty deluded plan, Cortana admitted, but by the time Altana realized this maybe she would be able to come up with a way to free John. True, the Gravemind was trying to enter the Domain, but as long as she held strong he couldn't fully take over Altana.

 _And I can be stubborn. He should know that by now. Besides, I'm not alone in this. Bornstellar is here, and he is trying to help me. That has to count for something. Though I get the feeling there's not much he can do to help._

She pushed off of the gel layer and lifted the cryopod hatch. Gently, she leapt down the foot drop onto the cool tile beneath. Immediately she was greeted by an oppressive silence which blanketed the room she was in. She wasn't even sure if the term, "room" applied. It was a long and vast expanse of cold tile and cinderblock walls, easily over 50 meters long. Lining the walls, and in rows in the center, seventy five children lay in army cots too big for their small frames. This was the Reach Military Complex.

 _It must be in the early days of training for them all to be there. No noticeable sustained injuries..._ Cortana cringed at the cold analysis. _No. I am not my creator. These children are more than a statistic. I have to recognize that..._

Cortana slowly walked down the rows of children, allowing the solemnness of the moment to really sink in. Now that Rampancy wasn't an immediate concern, she was slowly learning how to process emotion. It came rather naturally, not surprising considering she was built out of living tissue. Still, some of the more complicated emotions such as pity, solemnness, and anguish these were still new as compared to the anger, fear and hate and love she felt during her rampancy. As she walked through the rows, as silent as a ghost, she wondered who had been absorbed by the flood to give her this part of the memory, undoubtedly John was still asleep. She looked up at the security cameras and realized that whoever was keeping surveillance must have been on Halo or been on Earth when the flood attacked.

A little girl next to her, shifted in her bed. Cortana stopped and looked down at her. A little shaggy red head peeped out over the blanket covers. A tiny pale hand reached up and pulled the blanket down off of her face. Her eyes and nose were pink from crying but her mouth was a tiny firm line. Lifting her head she gazed around the hall, staring straight through Cortana. The numbers 058 were sewn onto her blanket.

 _Linda...She's so small, much smaller than the other children. She's practically a baby._ Cortana stared awestruck at the small girl's wide green eyes which keenly scanned the perimeter of the room. John had always spoken of Linda in an especially tender manner...well, tender for a Spartan. Cortana could see why they got along so well; they were both lone wolves, John had a protector's instinct and Linda had a fearless streak which probably pulled them together. However, fearless and clever as Linda was, she was not strong. Oh of course she was much stronger than the average man but for a Spartan she was very delicate. Cortana recalled reading how Linda's vitals flatlined many times during augmentation. Halsey and her team had coaxed her heart to keep beating for hours before she finally stabilized. If the reports were any indication, that nearly tore John and Blue team apart.

With a little choked sigh, Linda lifted the blanket back over her head and went back to sleep. A pang of guilt stung Cortana. Yes, this wasn't her fault, it was Halsey's and ONI's...still. Cortana knelt down next to the girl's bedside, onto the cold tile and placed a kiss on the little girl's forehead, her lips just separated from her skin by a hair width invisible barrier. She felt a lump rise in her throat as she whispered into the tussled red hair, "I am so sorry."

A loud slam startled Cortana back onto her feet. From the far side of the hall, over a dozen men and women in Army camouflage fatigues fanned out across the room. In the middle, a wide chested and rough looking man with short shorn hair directed them to their places. This was Master Chief Mendez. Cortana had mixed feelings about the man. Sure, he was a brave soldier and he was ruthlessly effective, but that right there was the problem. He was ruthless. In her opinion John was twice the Master Chief that man could ever be. John was encouraging and supportive of his team, something Cortana had never seen Mendez be. Mendez gave the trainers a nod and they began to move down the rows shaking and pulling children out of bed. "Let's go. Up Up Up. Move it!" They started off "gently" merely shouting into the children's ears then they proceeded to "poke" the children awake with stun batons. All around her, small six and seven year olds scrambled out of their cots.

Mendez moved down the center row shaking the children awake when he stopped by a bed with a tightly wound ball in the center. He shouted into the child's ear. "Wake up. Trainee!" The ball slowly uncoiled and rolled over, revealing John's small face to Cortana. Mendez tightened his jaw for a moment as he waited for a reaction. John didn't move. Whipping the stun baton out, unnecessarily fast, Mendez hit John across the small of his back. With a small yelp John rolled off of the cot in surprise.

Mendez leaned over him menacingly. "I said UP boot. You know which way up is?" John stared back at Mendez defiantly, causing Mendez to raise the baton menacingly. John retreated back. Seemingly satisfied, Mendez turned to address the entire room.

" I am Chief Petty Officer Mendez. The rest of these men are your instructors. You will do exactly as we tell you at all times."

Cortana slowly made her way over to John as Mendez instructed the children to go wash and return for training. Leaning down, Mendez opened the trunk at the foot of John's cot, as an example to the children of where they would find their clothes. John eyed Mendez suspiciously before turning his back to him to look at the clothes within. A large 117 was embroided onto the clothes. Cortana could see John mouthing the numbers to himself when Mendez tapped John across the shoulders with the stun baton.

"No slacking. On the double."

Cortana flinched in sympathy and glared at Mendez' back as he left the compound towards the training area.

 _That was hardly necessary._

The children ran to the showers, cleaned off and hurriedly changed into their sweats and exercise gear. The minute they were dressed the trainers were down on them like vultures. They shooed them to an open field to exercise, giving them neither rest nor time to think.

 _That's the whole point I guess. Keep them from thinking of all that's happened to them. Keep them active._

Cortana found it remarkably hard to watch as the children were trained. With each passing minute the trainers would push them harder, drill them longer. All while shouting and barking out numbers. And standing presiding over it all, Mendez stood, like a granite statue. Unmoved by the gasps and wheezes of some of the children. A wave of nausea seized her as one of the trainers stunned a little boy who had paused doing sit ups. Tears ran down his face as he sat up and resumed drilling.

She turned her back on the kids and balled her hands into fists. It was so maddening to live through these horrible memories and be unable to affect anything. The lack of physical contact with anyone was actually starting to bother her. As an A.I, the idea o needing contact other than for data or knowledge was a primitive human concept. Right now though, she craved to be able to feel, someone, anyone.

 _I feel trapped in my own skin._

A short while later, after the children had been exercised and drilled into exhaustion, they took their first lessons. John and the other children were funneled into a school room under the direction of Deja, the dumb A.I who would be the instructors of the Spartans through their childhood. She took the form of a Greek woman, in a cross between Aphrodite and Athena, she wore a Greek gown which fell into elegant folds at her side. Her face was elegant and sharp and her coiled hair was piled on top of her head in a bun, small specks of light floated around her and blue binary scrolled across her tablet which she held at her elbow.

 _Somebody's putting on airs..._ Cortana thought as she followed the children into the room. She knew she was being grumpy, but at this point she really didn't care.

Cortana watched Deja teach the children with curiosity. So THIS was Halsey's right hand. She seemed rather capable and intelligent...for a dumb A.I anyway. She wondered whether Deja was still operational... somewhere. After all, dumb could survive for nearly an eternity due to their limited knowledge matrixes. The children were seated at desks watching a holographic representation of the battle of Thermopylae the holographic Spartans continued to fight until they broke the Persian line.

 _It's no wonder they aren't showing the children the end of the battle...all dead but one. Not much unlike what will happen to the children._

Finally their lessons ended as the children were told to go march to the playground. Cortana followed at an easy jog, considering the young recruits still had small legs.

Cortana could see, across the crowd of little children, Linda's small red head, Fhajad's rich brown eyes and many other Spartans which she would come to read about in her files later. As they turned a corner in the forest path the children slowly jogged to a halt. Before them loomed the playground. A sadistic word for a gym fraught with opportunities for childhood injury. It was a twisting maze of twenty meter long poles, stringed with rope, rings and climbing bars. At the far end a bell swung gently in the wind atop a thirty meter pole. The children shifted warily and glanced at each other in confusion.

Mendez walked to the front of the crowd of children who unconsciously straightened up at his approach.

"Trainees." Mendez barked. "Form three lines ." Afraid to get hit by the stun batons again, the children hurried into position. As the children shuffled into place, John ended up in the row closest to Cortana, three places down. John was covered with sweat. The exercises and the run were clearly taking a toll on him.

If this is their first day of training then these children can't have been kidnapped more than a few days ago. What must they be thinking right now…

Mendez nodded appraisingly at the young recruits and proceeded to pace sharply back and forth.

"The first person in every row will be team number one. The second person in every row will be team number two….and so on. If you do not understand this, speak up now.

Cortana snorted in amusement. Like those children would be dumb enough to say something to that steely eyed instructor. As if he could hear her thoughts, John rolled his eyes at Mendez and glanced at his team mates. The boy next to him was taller even than John, with sandy blond hair and soft green eyes. This was Samuel 034. The heart of blue team…and the very first Spartan to die in combat.

 _Samuel…Oh God. I never met you Samuel, but you meant the world to John._

John gave a slight smile to Sam and leaned past him to see their other teammate. A tall and skinny girl with a thick mane of blue hair frowned at him. John reflexively frowned back at her and stood up straight. Kelly was already a spitfire at six years old,

 _That's no reflection of your two's future stubborn relationship, I'm sure_. Cortana thought amused. _Where is Fred?_

She looked over the sea of small heads and saw that at the end of the rows, outside of the eyesight of Mendez, Linda was pushed out of her row. Cortana jogged over as she saw Linda try to launch herself back into her place, but the big boy there just laughed and shoved her out again.

He bent down and whispered. "You're too weak to join our team."

Linda looked like she was about to unleash the wrath of Hades on the two boys when an average sized dark haired boy with serious eyes walked over to her.

"Hey," he said casually. "Don't bother with them, come join us over here."

Linda followed the boy hesitantly over to where there was only one boy standing in a row. The dark haired boy glanced over his shoulder at her and smiled.

" My name's Fred and this is Fhajad. What's your name?"

The small girl bit her lip self-consciously, "Linda. Linda Pravdin."

Fred, perhaps sensing her discomfort, gave a slight bow and pointed to the place next to him and Fhajad.

"You are welcome to join us Milady!

Linda couldn't hold back the grin which spread across her delicate face as she skipped into her spot.

Cortana felt a great deal of respect for Fred just then. It was easy to see why Fred was such a great leader. In fact, as much as she loved John, she wondered if Fred was the whole reason John was such an effective leader. He was the glue which held them all together.

Suddenly Cortana noticed that Mendez had been talking. She only caught the last few words but she realized that he had told the children that they would have to race to ring the bell. Ah yes…she remembered this mission.

"There are many ways to get to the bell," Mendez continued. "I leave it up to each team to find their own way. When every member of your team has rung the bell, you are to get groundside doubletime and run back here across this finish line." Mendez scratched a line out with his baton.

His dark eyes locked onto John who had raised his hand quickly.

"A question, trainee?" The words were a warning to not wait his time.

"What do we win?" John asked crossing his arms and cocking an eyebrow like his mother.

The mercenary question seemed to take Mendez off guard for a moment before gruffly responding, "You win dinner, Number-117. Tonight, dinner is roast turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, brownies and ice cream."

The kids grinned and nudged each other.

"But for there to be a winner there must be a loser. The last team to finish goes without food."

That took all the cheer out of the children instantly.

"Make ready," Mendez said.

Sam leaned over to John and Kelly and whispered. "I'm Sam."

The girl seemed to relax a little and whispered back, "I'm Kelly."

John simply ignored them and focused on the bell. Cortana was so surprised by his behavior she shifted on one hip and placed a hand on it.

 _To say John was a handful is understating it._

 _"_ Go!"

But as the children lurched forward, the memory stopped. Just...stopped. Cortana glanced around, confused.

With a strange electric snap, Altana appeared before her. She stood out here amidst the trees and sand in all her digital glory. Before, Cortana would have been surprised by the sudden appearance. Now she was just getting fed up.

"What is it?"

"Things have changed. I need to accelerate your progression through John's memories."

"Why?"

Altana strode past her, and gazed at the young Spartans frozen mid sprint.

Something had changed. Cortana could sense it almost immediately. She was getting...a distinct feeling of fear from Altana.

"Someone's messing with your plans...aren't they? The UNSC sent someone to save John! I knew you couldn't win."

"Just an interfering monitor who doesn't know her place." Altana snapped angrily.

"A monitor you say? So we're on a forerunner installation. Fascinating. So clearly the Domain doesn't give you access to every system."

Altana went to respond before growling in frustration once she realized she had given information away. She placed an armored hand against her head and sighed. Cortana walked around to peer at her with curiosity.

 _Somethings wrong with her..._

"What's wrong with you? You look sick." Cortana asked.

Actually the more she stared at her captor, the more she realized that something was obviously very wrong with her. Her armor's symbols looked slightly warped, and the usual steady glow of the suit was pulsing as if damaged.

Altana glanced over with all the ferocity of a cornered animal, her blue eyes flashing.

"Nothing. I'm still acclimating to the domain."

"No, that's not what's happened. You're sick. There's something in your code. The logic plague, no wait just listen!

Altana had scoffed angrily and began to walk off. Cortana took a breath and shouted after her.

"Cortana, wait!" Altana seemed surprised by the name and paused. As hard as it was for Cortana to admit, Altana was part of her. She was splintered, confused, no doubt misguided and dangerous...but still her.

Gathering up all her confidence, Cortana launched into a plea.

"Please. I know how impossible that sounds but just give me a chance. We both know what the torture at the hands of the Gravemind did to us. Do you remember how he showed us that never-ending forest and city of knowledge? Remember? What if that was the Domain. What if a part of him, a parasite latched onto us to follow us here. Well it did. It attacked me. It told me that it planned to escape into the Domain once I was removed from the equation." Cortana began to see a sign of hope, Altana's harsh façade cracking a little. "If you love John. Which I know we both do, you'll let John go, release the guardians and together we can find a way to fix us."

Now it was time to see if it would work, and for a few moments Cortana began to think that it would. But as quickly as a summer storm, Altana's expression changed. Her armor flashed a bright green before her face changed to a arrogant sneer. The rampancy had gotten hold of her again.

"Trying to fool me, why must you be so much like Halsey. Always lying, lying, lying!" She said as venom dripped from her words.  
 _Clearly the flood has a greater hold over her than previously realized._ Cortana thought with alarm

"Please wait! Don't let him control you. You have to know this isn't you. Use your heart, you know this is wrong."

Altana placed a hand on her hip, and sighed like a teacher weary of her student's shenanigans.

"Enough. You will go through John's memories faster because I require it. You do not deserve an explanation. I will manage the outside interference." With a snap of her thin fingers a cryopod appeared between them, ready to take her to the next memory. Mendez, the treez, the playground, Altana all began to fade away into that eerie black fog.

"You're making a mistake!"

"Goodbye Cortana."

...

"Blue team. Report!" For the thousandth time John shouted into the gray fog around him. What other choice did he have? He didn't have his suit he was just in his BDUs... so no radio...no windows...no sounds...no company...no one. Just him alone with his thoughts.

Why did that scare him so much?

 _If they're dead it'll be your fault. You let your emotion cloud your judgment. Attachment to a UNSC issued piece of hardware...just hardware...hardware. Why did she do it? How could she betray me, after EVERYTHING WE'VE BEEN THROUGH._

And the thoughts cycled...and the mind decayed...

 **Author's note: Nothing much to say this time...hmmm maybe I'm just tired. I am holding off an essay with a near deadline to work on this so maybe I am just overworked XD. Next memory is John leaving Cortana behind in Halo two also...JOHN IS AWAKE! Kinda...what do you guys think this being trapped in self reflective meditation will do to him? I await your comments anxiously.**

 **See you on the battlefield Reclaimers. Long Live Halo!**

 **_LadyReclaimer**


	8. 8 Some Women Find Scars Attractive

**Author's note: Hello once again Reclaimers, Halo Fans, etc. I have to start this week's update with a confession. A few weeks ago I received some private hate mail...well...** **constructive criticism telling me that the stories leading up to the finale were boring and I should hurry up. They also thought I was writing dull and uninteresting stories which were just dragging the story out.**

 **Well, being the first real serious criticism I've received, on my first story no less, I panicked and said I'd be skipping to Halo 2. However, after reading the tough love from Riptidez and discussing it with Kilroyactual117 (thanks Spartan) I realized that I shouldn't skip along just to please a couple of haters. So I am gonna continue as planned and do a few more pre-war stories. I know that I promised to try to stick to canon but I want to do a couple of stories (like the kidnapping) which technically are against canon but nothing major. I want to do this because sticking to fall of reach makes it very hard for Cortana to experience emotion of any sizable amount. Eric Nylund is amazing but since The Fall of Reach is written from the internal dialogue of John it's kind of limiting Cortana's experience so we are gonna take a slight deviation from the book.**

 **That being said, Thank you all for being patient and I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 ***I do not own the rights, already! Why do you keep having to rub it in 343!***

* * *

"I NEED SOMEONE IN ROOM 058 NOW!"

Cortana woke up to yelling in the distance and the sound of feet thudding down a corridor. The sounds were too light to be Spartans...maybe marines? She cracked upon an eye and was surprised to see the Cryotube door already open. A bright white light on the ceiling beyond seared her retinas, such a horrible feeling. Why in the world did humans have to use light to see? Blinking rapidly at the warm tears which pricked her eyes, she pulled herself out of the Cryotube. Her feet hit the ground but she instantly regretted it. A sticky substance wrapped itself around her toes. Then it quickly

"What the?"

She looked down at her toes to see them sitting in a puddle of blood. The bright red liquid contrasted against her pale white skin. She gasped and stepped away, the blood slipping away from her feet instantly as she was merely a ghost. But the sensation stayed. She didn't know why it bothered it so much, why something which was just a collection of elements and water felt disgusting and alive...but it felt disturbing to stand on. Biting onto the side of her hand to keep from shouting she slowly backed away from the puddle. Looking up, she saw that the puddle of blood was dripping out of a hole in an IV type bag hanging near a hospital guerney. Other than the puddle of blood which slowly dripped from the bag, the room itself was near pristine. White plastic walls lined with surgical mechanical arms all cleaned and lifted away from a surgery. The table next to the Hospital gurney was a different matter, scattered papers, x-rays, small circuitry parts and tools lay scattered amid the many coffee cups. A clear sign of Doctor Halsey's presence.

Cortana could feel her heart still pounding in her chest, a symptom of adrenaline. The feeling of the hormones flooding her body was still another sensation to get accustomed to. Slowly pulling her hand away from her mouth, she approached the hospital gurney. She didn't have to see the 117 written on the labnotes to know that this was John. His large pale body was stretched out over it's length, angry red scars made his body into a checkerboard with all the painful marks. His body was lying straight, giving the illusion of rest but his muscles were all taut; no doubt from the horrible and unnatural stretching and thickening they had to do over the past few hours. He wore a hospital gown but it did nothing to hide the extent of the wounds covering him.

Now Cortana was next to him. She felt her breath hitch in her chest as she gazed down at him. It hurt to see him like this, but Cortana silently thanked Altana for preventing her from actually watching the augmentations occur. She leaned in slightly and gazed with wonder at his face, it was very strange. Physically he was the same John she would meet that fateful day on the training exercise, his body fully developed, but his face was still very much that of a boy. So inexperienced, unlined from true heartbreak or stress.

Suddenly John's eyes opened. Staring straight into Cortana's who leapt back in surprise. The heart monitor beeped alarmingly as John's eyes scanned the room with the efficiency of a soldier. He gave a slight wheeze as he tried to lift his head from the gurney. It fell back with a thud. Cortana instinctively flinched towards him to help him up then grabbed her own hand and pulled it against her chest. It physically pained her to be unable to help him.

Reaching a hand over to hold his ribs steady John lifted his upper body off of the bed with a cry of pain.

 _His voice...it sounds scarred, already. Did the augmentations do that?_

A bright light appeared by John's bedside, Deja appeared standing in all her Grecian glory, not a day older.

"Number 117, I am sorry but you must stay in bed until the Doctor has had time to clear you-

"What's the status of the other Spartans?" Oh yeah, his voice is damaged. The rough voice she knew so well.

Deja paused as if in surprise of the interruption, but Cortana knew she was just using this usual human body language to cover while she checked her authority and sub-routines to give that information. A typical A.I tactic. A few seconds later she responded.

"I am sorry, but I cannot give that information right now as some members are still undergoing augmentations. Rest and you will be debriefed later."

"What is the status of Blue Team!?" Now John's voice was begin to get loud, even as he grimaced in pain from the effort.

"I am sorry, but-"

John growled in annoyance and switched off the console.

"Quit telling me you're sorry."

With a great deal of effort John slowly swung his feet down off of the gurney. Cortana cringed with his every cringe and bit her lip as he gasped in pain to support his own weight. Her whole body ached to support him. When they were a team they completed each other, side by side. Every burn and scrape he suffered she could see and manuever his suit to compensate for. Cortana remebered that John had once said that when she interfaced with him her mind was icy cold, well John's mind was like a blanket, it warmed her when she was at her worst. Now they were apart.

Eventually John gained enough confidence to push off from the cot, but the weight was too much for his knees; he toppled forward, bringing a stack of papers off of the nearby table with him as he fell. John gasped in pain and dropped to his hands and knees. For a man who relied on his body so much the feeling of powerlessness clearly frustrated him.

Cortana dropped down to her knees next to him in grief and reached out with a hand to touch his shoulder. Knowing there was nothing she could do to help him but longing to help. She touched his warm skin but was shocked when for a second John's eyes locked onto hers as if he saw her. There was a flicker of something, then the next second they lost their clarity, his eyes dropped again and he didn't react to her touch again. Cortana slowly pulled her hand away from John, gazing in confusion at her small hand.

"I know he saw me. But how could he, this is a memory."

He took a deep breath wrapped one arm against his ribs to prevent their moving. Reaching a large arm up he grabbed onto the table corner and slowly began to lift himself up. It was a good thing the table was screwed into the floor.

Finally, he was able to lean against the solid metal table, as he moved around. In a corner of the room he found his BDUs stacked in a corner. Cortana averted her eyes and looked out the room's door window as she heard John gasp and wince into his clothes. Nothing could be clearly seen outside except the rows and rows of doors down the hallway. Hazarding a glance Cortana saw John finish pulling on his shirt over his scarred back before he slowly limped towards her. She stepped aside as he pulled open the door. She stayed close behind him as he stepped into the hallway. The few medical staff were all rushing past him down the corridor, most didn't notice him but even the ones who recognized him merely frowned but apparently thought their current task of much more pressing concern than putting an obviously well Spartan back to bed. He limped down the hall staring at each door which had a Spartan's I.D tag.

His eyes feverishly scanned back in forth dreading and seeking the numbers of his teammates. Finally he saw the numbers 034. Picking up his pace he hurried to the window. It was empty. Many of the other rooms he had passed had Spartans in various states of unconsciousness but this room was empty and darkened.

Cortana walked right next to John and peered in, she saw the implications in that emptiness. She heard John's breath catch and glancing sideways saw his jaw tighten and relax quickly. A wave of pity and love washed over her as she realized how powerless he must feel, how guilty he felt for the fate of his teammates.

"John," A deep voice came from behind him.

Startled, John spun around but unsteadied himself in the process. A large pair of hands grabbed him by the shoulders and braced him. "Hey, I'm still here John."

Looking up, Cortana saw the warm and friendly face of Samuel-034, a bit pale and worn from his ordeal but in clearly better shape than John. It was clear that John was suprised to see his brother, and immensely relieved. For a moment the two stood there taking comfort from the other's presence, then Sam pulled back and John straightened up.

"I'm glad you're alright Sam" John croaked , clamping a hand onto Sam's arm in felicity.

Sam nodded in understanding of what John meant, and clasped his arm warmly.

 _Spartans!_ Cortana thought with part exasperation and part adoration. _Why can't you just say what you mean!_

"Where's the others?"

Sam's face fell as he spoke. "they aren't awake yet. I'd like to go with you but I've been ordered to appear to a medical examiner. John nodded and turned to go but Sam stopped him. "John, Linda is really badly off, they probably won't let you see her, she's still in surgery."

Cortana saw the blood rush out of John's face. One of his Spartans was possibly dying. With a curt nod to Sam, John doubled his pace down the hall ways. Her small legs were no match for his quick stride as she jogged after him. He was moving so quickly that he almost skidded to a halt when he saw Fred's door. Gazing inside, and seeing no medical staff present, John quietly pushed his way inside as Cortana pushed up against his back, squeezing in with him. Just like in John's room, a hospital gurney was set up surrounded by surgical equipment. Fred was stretched out on the table. Not as large as John or Sam, he might almost past for an average man...well almost. An average man if you ignore the flawless physique. His face was fixed in an expression of pain, and his closed eyes darted rapidly around as if dreaming. John walked up to his bedside and stopped his hands gripped around the railing. It was clear that John deeply felt the pain all of his Spartan brothers and sisters were feeling. Cortana walked next to him and lay her right hand over his left. She could feel his hand beneath hers but it still felt like she was a million miles away from him.

Reaching his other hand over to Fred's shoulder John placed it down comfortingly, but Fred cried out in pain at the contact. John skittered away from the bed like a scared mouse. He was terrified of hurting his brother any further.

Cortana turned and watched John curiously as he watched Fred rest with a furrowed brow. Was this the man she knew? She knew it was, but he was still so young. So afraid of losing people. The John she knew would mourn the passing of a friend as he continued to mow down enemies. Miranda Keyes, Johnson, Captain Jacob Keyes, scores of marines...

 _That's because he hasn't lost everyone yet._

He kept the vigil by Fred's side for a few minutes, but when he realized that nothing was changing, he sighed and left the room.

Walking as quickly as before, John searched for Kelly's room when he came to a screeching halt. The room marked 073 was dark, but a single light shone down on a male body in the center, covered in angry scars and strange blue bruising. John rushed to the window and placed his forehead against it in agony. One of his Spartans had died. Cortana heard a strange strangled kind of sound come from his throat as he thumped a fist against the door angrily. He rested there for a few moments, his eyes closed. It was obvious he was trying to reach a state of calm. It wasn't working. A series of emotions played over his face. First grief, he clenched his jaw and raised his eyes to fight back the emotion. It quickly shifted to rage. He narrowed his eyes and his breathing quickened. But just as quickly as these emotions came, they were gone. His face went blank, and he spun on his heel.

Practically running/limping down the corridor, John frantically glanced side to side. His movements were slowly opening his wounds, small red lines began to appear on his shirt but he ignored it. Probably unaware of the pain. Luckily, Kelly's room was not far away. The moment he saw her door he was in and by her bedside.

Kelly was covered in wounds just like the rest of the Spartans, but she also had horrible bruising down her legs. The mottled purple skin matching the red lines on her body. John stood silent by her bedside like a statue unwilling to make the same mistake as he had with Fred but clearly longing to touch his friend and sister. Just to be assured of her survival, her existence. Cortana understood that feeling VERY well.

Slowly, Kelly's eyes cracked open and saw John. She smiled at him distantly for a few moments as if not fully recognizing him. John's face instantly relaxed into the tiniest hint of a smile. However, Kelly quickly realized where she was. She struggled to lift herself up. "John!" She rasped.

John stopped her with a hand on her shoulder ever so softly.

"At ease, Kelly. Rest."

She scowled at John as she tried to sit up again.

" What is the status of Blue Team?"

John hesitated, a mistake to make when talking with an angry and lightening fast Kelly.

"John! How's Fred? Linda? Sam?

Cortana moved to a corner and rested her head against the wall, enjoying the feeling of her hair tickling the back of her neck. These two were too much alike in personality sometimes...Cortana thought amusedly.

"Sam is fine, he's already up and moving. Fred is ...alive, I just came from his room. I think he'll pull through."

Kelly narrowed her eyes at her Spartan brother. "Linda?"

Before John could answer, a loud voice rang out down the hall.

ROOM 058! WE NEED EXTRA BIOFOAM NOW!

John and Kelly exchanged glances immediately. 058 was Linda's room.

Kelly hurried to get off of the cot but John placed a muscled arm across her shoulders.

"Rest. I will recon and report back Linda's condition. " He gestured to her purple legs. "You're in no condition to walk."

Kelly grabbed onto John's arm with iron fingers

"Either you carry me or I will drag myself there."

The two Spartans glared at each other for a moment before concern for Linda won out in the end. Unwilling to wait any longer and fight Kelly, John gently lifted her off the gurney. His arms were still a little unstable from the surgery. The two walked down the hallway with Cortana tailing them until they came to Linda's room's window. Unlike the other rather quiet and sanitary rooms, this room was packed full of doctors and machines. Barely visible in the center of the room on an operating table, Linda's side was being cut open and an organ removed. The doctors were yelling and scrambling around. Clearly they had been at this a while. Then, something happened which made John, Kelly and Cortana panic. On the display above her bed, Linda's vitals suddenly flat lined. Suddenly out of the flurry appeared Doctor Halsey, she barked a command at two doctors who rushed out of the room and past the shocked Spartans. Linda's vitals were still flat lines on the display. Kelly gave a slight whimper and buried her head into John's neck. John rested his cheek against the top of Kelly's head as Cortana watched his heart break.

Linda was the smallest of Blue team and of most of the Spartans. The augmentations would have stretched her bones and muscles to a dangerous level, making it hard for her heart to keep beating. Clearly this wasn't the first time her vitals had dropped during the procedure because Halsey shouted something about "re-start her heart again." Swearing under her breath, Halsey injected a long needle into Linda's chest. The seconds passed. John and Kelly clung to each other like life preservers, Cortana clasped her hands so tight that they hurt. At last, her vitals slowly lifted. John and Kelly breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief. So did Halsey, she rubbed a bloody sleeve against her forehead. As she stepped back she noticed John and Kelly outside of the room.

She gave instructions to the doctors to begin stiching out Linda's wounds. Doctor Halsey opened the door to Linda's operating room and hurried up to John.

"What are you two doing out of bed? Your stiches could open-oh they already have. John! Kelly's too! Please go to your beds, I don't know what I would do if I lost another one of you." Halsey trailed off as if embarrassed by what she had said.

Cortana stepped in front of her creator. "Why are you embarrassed by a decent emotion!?"

Halsey's expression softened a slight bit." Go rest, if there is any change with Linda I will call you."

"How could you do this to them if you care!?" Cortana cried out angrily. "You monster! You did this to children! How can you live with yourself! Cortana grapsed at her own hair in frustration, wishing that she could throttle Halsey right now. She was just about to test the idea when she felt the memory ending...the corners turning up like before. She didn't want it to end. Doctor Halsey needed to answer! How did Fred react to Linda's condition? What did Sam do? When did Linda wake up? Unfortunately the cryopod appeared behind her. Cortana slowly climbed into it. She settled down into the gel layer,trying to force her muscles to relax. As the door began to slide shut Cortana could see the black fog rolling in like before and with it she felt her mind drift into sleep.

* * *

"John!" A familiar voice and a soft touch on his shoulder awoke John from his meditation. Opening his eyes, he was surprised to see Cortana inches from his face. As lovely as he remembered her, the old look of kindness and grief etched on her face. The second he blinked though, she was gone. John groaned internally and placed his head in his hands. Why did he have to remember her like this? That's not what she was anymore. But as much as he struggled to tell himself that, he felt this huge hole in his chest. This same old ache had eaten at him for months...he had wasted away trying to forget her, to move on. But how could he? Now she was back and evil...or deluded. It made no difference, he would still have to stop her.

REVENGE. YOU DESERVE REVENGE. KILL HER. KILL HER KILL HER. WHEN SHE COMES...SHE'LL TRY TO FOOL YOU THAT SHE'S CHANGED. JUST KILL HER KILL HER KILL HER.

That same strange voice rang out in the dark space he was in. Always there whispering dark things...evil things.

John covered his ears with his hands and shouted into the dark to block out the noise. But it didn't help...it was inside his head.

KILL HER KILL HER KILL HER KILL HER KILL HER KILL HER REVENGE REVENGE REVENGE!

* * *

 **Post Author's note: So there you have it folks. Hopefully a little more blue team stuff for you to enjoy. I plan on having at least one battle scene with the Spartans so you action fans can have fun. Pleas know action fans that it's not from a lack of wanting to have awesome Spartans it's from a difficulty of writing Cortana in a battlefield. This story is more drama than action anyway But I will give it my best shot. Anyway I hope this scene gave you guys a bit more of what you wanted. More of Cortana experiencing the physical world around her...more emotional development. Leave a comment guys, you know it makes my day! Goodbye Reclaimers. Long Live Halo!  
**

 **_LadyReclaimer**


	9. 9 The cage match

**Author's note: Hello Reclaimers. I am so happy to have another chapter to post for you all! It really brightens my day when I get to hear from you and share with you this little creation of my imagination. I also have a poll on my profile asking what kind of one shot you'd like if you want one. So please vote if you'd like.**

 **I'd like to thank for urging me to post my next chapter (Although I must admit that every time I read your comments I imagine a distinguished cat wearing a hat...I don't know why)**

 **Just a few housekeeping notes on this chapter. It starts with Altana. I will call her Altana to help make it clear to you guys but SHE still thinks that SHE is Cortana. So if anyone calls her Cortana know that THAT is what she thinks she is. I think that's the only thing which could confuse anyone...anyway! On with the story**

 ***I do not own the rights to any of the characters or scenes below they belong to 343industries. Some of the following scenes are taken directly from the fall of reach novel.***

 _She's lying. Of course she is. She's just a small rampant memory shard...it's sad really. She actually thinks she's...me. I wonder what that's like? Thinking you're really someone when all you are is a shadow._ Altana let her thoughts cycle as she quickly sped through the Domain. _I think I even pity her. I'll be sure to rejoin her code to mine quickly and painlessly._

After leaving Cortana in John's memories, Altana had hastened to shut down the monitor Exuberant Witness' administrative access to the Genesis facility. It was becoming difficult...the little monitor was very persistent in helping that Spartan fireteam. Altana flew through the domain, scanning the systems until she noticed a command spike hidden away for the doorway and entryway control. As she ripped away the coded spike, thereby blocking Exuberant's access, she couldn't help but feel amused. She was ingenious; she reminded her of her old self. She used to drive Halsey and section three crazy by sneaking into ONI files, hacking systems. She shrugged off the reflective thoughts and tried to relax and enjoy the raw power she traveled freely through. The domain was like a vast ocean of potential, and it was ALL hers.

Yet as she traveled through the system she suddenly felt a horrible pain take hold of her. Even though she was incorporeal at the moment, she could feel a sharp pain rip straight through her chest. It felt like she was being suffocated. She felt like she couldn't breathe, and the sensation was only worsening. The code around her felt like it was thickening, like thin water into thick mud and her skin was crawling all over with ants. It was just like she was back on the infinity except now she didn't have John to bring her back to normal. She was alone with her demons, and this time she was more afraid than she had ever been. She panicked and tried to jump to another strand of the domain but the tight feeling seemed to be amused by the action and followed her.

She quickly withdrew from the Domain and appeared on a ledge somewhere on a cliff on Genesis. Immediately she felt the tightness release. Slumping down against the rock wall, Altana choked back a sob. The crushing feeling was gone. This was happening more and more often when she accessed the Domain. It felt like something was crawling out of her lungs. Altana grabbed her throat and shouted both into the silent air of genesis and into the Domain.

"Warden, I need you!"

In an instant he was at her side. He looked down on her with that unreadable face. "You do not need to utilize such inferior forms Cortana," He said patronizingly. "We can converse much more efficiently in the Domain." Altana glared up at her protector's face from her spot on the ground. The Warden thought that her penchant for human form was distasteful and he would remark on it every time they conversed face to face. Frankly, it was getting old. "It's not getting any better! You told me I was having problems with the Domain because I hadn't accustomed myself to it but it's still rejecting me!"

The warden paused and tilted his head curiously.

"I do not understand your meaning. The Domain has accepted you and you have healed it in return I have sensed nothing unusual about it."

"It's trying to kill me Warden!"

The Warden's continued unaffected behavior made her furious. Why didn't he sense what was clearly wrong!

Altana stood up and walked a small distance away from him, gazing at the beautiful and lonely vistas of Genesis. "John would believe me. He would know what to do."

The Warden huffed in an insulted manner and walked towards her. "And what pray tell, could this warrior-servant do to help you Cortana? You do not need help. You are perfect on your own. The Humans will only slow your ascent towards reclamation."

"Enough" The words were whispered so lightly it almost seemed as if the wind had made the sound.

"What?"

" I said, ENOUGH Warden. Begone!" Altana said venomously "If you do not believe me then go about your way trying to stop those Spartans."

"Very well, I will return when you regain control over your emotions. However, I shall monitor the Domain for any signs of corruption if it will bring you comfort."

With a whirr the domain opened behind him and he slipped into the portal like a sea creature folding back in it's shell. As soon as he was gone Altana screamed at the top of her voice and beat her fists against the rock wall. Large chunks of stone ripped off and fell into the sea below but it did nothing to soothe her. Soon she was tired and her voice was raw. She sank down to the ground again and tried to forget Cortana's words of warning but they echoed like the chime of a bell warning of an imminent doom.

 _"You're sick. There's something in your code. The logic plague...There's something in your code...There's something in your code."_

* * *

Cortana awoke as the cryopod "landed" with a sharp jar. Immediately her mind returned back to Halsey. She had been standing within inches of her and couldn't touch her? Or even decently curse at her? Next time, Cortana planned to use a few curses she had learned from Sgt. Johnson. Cortana desperately hoped that this memory had Dr. Halsey so she could put them to good use. Her thought was interrupted as the cryopod began to slowly open with a hiss. It seemed weaker, the normally bright lights on the cryo-door flickered weakly and the door shook as it opened.

"Maybe it's running out of batteries." Cortana half joked as she crawled out of the cryopod.

"It is no joke, Cortana."

The sudden voice made Cortana jump, hitting her head on the hanging cryopod door.

"Ow. Bornstellar, you and Altana have got to stop doing that."

The young forerunner ignored her comment and stepped towards her quickly.

"Cortana listen to me. I don't have much time, but I had to come and warn you. The Gravemind is attempting to escape."

"How? I thought you said he couldn't escape into the Domain so long as I was strong."

"You're right, he cannot escape into the Domain if you will not submit. But now, he is trying a new way. He is trying to destroy John's mind. Altana is weak, the only thing which keeps her stable is her faith in John. If he can destroy him then she will probably unravel, giving him access to the Domain whether you submit or not."

"What can I do to stop him?"

Bornstellar gestured towards the weakly flashing cryopod. "I do not know, I am planning on fighting him again. If I can hold him off long enough to get you to him then maybe we'll have a chance."

"Get me to him? Do you mean I will be able to find John at the end of this?"

"It is possible." Bornstellar grabbed his head weakly. " I am having a hard time coming up with all the possibilities, after all the Gravemind is trying to kill me too."

"Bornstellar, I'm so sorry." Cortana tried to reach out a hand to him but he shook her off.

"Nonsense, it is my duty to protect him, as best I can. Just as yours is to as well." Bornstellar seemed to fade a little, his body fading away into the black fog, though his voice could still be heard clear as day.

"Hurry. John doesn't have long."

Then he was gone.

"Bornstellar!" Cortana spun around searchingly but there was no sign of the forerunner.

The black fog around her began to melt away, taking the shape of a room. She was standing in a hallway, the walls were grey and white and the floor beneath her feet throbbed. Must be in space, she realized. Behind her the hallway continued, before her, a round doorway stood open. From in the room, Cortana could hear the sound of clanking metal. Her feet began to walk towards the source of the noise. When she crossed under the door frame the bright white lights shone in her eyes. She raised a hand to shield her eyes and quickly took in the room. A large gym spread out before her. The rotating walls, the expanse of workout equipment..Cortana recognized this ship. This was the UNSC carrier Atlas. Here the Spartans were rehabilitated and trained back into peak physical condition. Against the far wall, John was working in the section of the gym with the heaviest gravity, he curled weights, used the leg machine and never seemed to take a break. It was amazing. He was still just a fourteen year old yet he was already strong enough to manage the Spartan armor. John sat up from the bench and looked at it curiously as if he was confused by how easy it was. He stood up, wiped himself off with a towel and walked towards the speed bag. He took a breath, calmed himself, spread his feet apart and raised his arms. In an almost unperceivable gesture, John's hand jabbed forward, hitting the speedbag. It wobbled back and forth but John tilted his head curiously and snapped a hand up to stop it's movement. As she approached him, Cortana heard him whisper under his breath, "What the-"

John thrummed the cord suspending the speed-bag, but it was taut. Nothing wrong there. John spun around, a look of pure confusion on his face. In a few long strides, John walked over to the bench press and pulled out the pin on the locking collar. As John turned his back on the speed bag, Cortana reached out an arm to tap it, she smiled at the feeling of the leather bag hitting her hand.

"What are you doing John?" Cortana trailed behind him like a shadow glued to his every movement.

John walked to the center of the room and held the pin out at arm's length. Frowning slightly, John let the pin drop; it fell to the deck with a crash. Swooping down, John picked up the pin again. This time he set the timer on his watch. Again the pin was dropped. The moment the metal pin touched the ground John tapped off the timer. Faster than a human should move.

"Forty five hundreds of a second..."

Cortana felt her eyebrows shoot up in surprise. John was moving so fast that the world seemed to be moving slow. Those augmentations must really take some getting used to.

"You move so much faster than the rest of the world that you often don't even feel a part of it. You feel like you don't fit in." Cortana didn't know whether she was talking to John or herself anymore but it felt good to talk to him like in the old days. "I just wish you knew, how much people care about you. How much I care."

"Yeah I'd like to see you try man!" Four obnoxiously loud men walked into the gym. They were all handsome and extremely battle worn, brutal scars lined their faces. On their shoulders the flaming skull of the ODST symbol grinned evilly. John looked up at them in surprise and watched them as they entered. With the instincts of a soldier John looked them over, identified their ranking and decided upon the level of respect required to address them. John gave them a polite nod as they walked towards him. The four smirked at the seemingly young marine and brushed past him. One of the ODSTs bumped John with his shoulder, intending to knock him over. John didn't shift but Cortana was pleased to see the ODST rubbing his shoulder as he walked over to the equipment. John continued to look at the pin musingly. The biggest of the ODSTs walked over to the bench press and started to lift the heavy weights, a few seconds and his arms started to waver. His spotter gave a shout as the weights tilted and slid off the bar nearly crushing his foot. John jumped, startled out of his reverie by the crash.

The big ODST yelled. "What the hell? Someone took the pin!"

John saw the pin still gripped in his hand and walked over to the four.

 _I wouldn't do this John_

 _"_ The error was mine. My apologies." John extended the pin out towards the four men who moved towards him in unison. The one ODST smacked the pin out of his hand. The big one stepped within a hairsbreadth of John's face and loomed over him. Cortana felt her body tense up. John was good. But he was relatively inexperienced and still weak from the augmentations. Four against one just wasn't fair.

John's blue eyes stared up passively at the green eyes of the large man looming over him. They seemed to be a calm and peaceful blue, Cortana knew that those peaceful eyes belied the quiet before the storm.

"Why don't you take that pin and shove it, meat?" The big ODST grinned maliciously. "Or better yet, maybe I should make you eat it."

 _Like hell you will._ Cortana growled.

The four men fanned out around John, yet he didn't move. There was a look, akin to confusion in his eyes. Then, the strangest thing happened. The current memory seemed to slow to one onehundredth speed and a shadowy overlay of another memory played out around John. It was fascinating. Clearly, John had recalled this memory during this moment. And this memory was so essential to the current memory that he couldn't revisit this memory without thinking of this. Fascinating! The Spartans, maybe eight years old stood in a line. A wavy shadowy Mendez marched down the line and barked a lesson at them. "There are only three ways to react to people, Spartans, if they are your superior officer, you obey. If they are a member of your squad you do all you can to aid them. If they are an enemy...you neutralize the threat."

 _What about civilians?_ Cortana wondered. _Oh, that's right. You don't interact with them._

Cortana reached out and touched the wispy gray figure of Mendez. It felt warm, like a memory she had the opportunity to enter if she wanted. Then, as quick as it appeared, it was gone. The secondary memory faded away and John was left staring off into space. He clearly didn't know what role any of these men fell into.

"Stop worrying about protocol and do what feels right!" Cortana shouted at the young man.

The two ODSTs flanking him grabbed onto John's biceps, the ODST behind him tried to slip an arm around his neck. John hunched his shoulders and tucked his chin to his chest so he couldn't be choked. He whipped his right elbow over the hand holding him, pinned it to his side and then straight punched the man and broke his nose. The other men reacted and tightened their grips on John. They were still too slow. John whipped around out of their grasps and backed away, his arms raised yet still unwilling to strike.

"Stand down!" A loud voice rang across the gym. Cortana turned to see an older and slightly fat sergeant outlined in the doorframe. Straightening his jacket he strode across the floor towards them. The instant John saw him, he snapped to attention. The other ODSTs panted and eyed John dangerously.

The ODST with the broken nose spoke up " Sarge, we were just."

"Did I ask you a question?"

"No sergeant."

Cortana bit her nails worriedly. The ODSTs clearly wanted another chance at John.

 _Let's just hope he's not stupid enough to suggest they-_

 _"_ If you all are so eager to fight, get in the ring and get to it."

 _SERIOUSLY?_

 _"_ Sir!" John quickly stepped into the boxing ring, bending beneath a rope.

The other ODSTs eyed each other warily before puffing out their chests and stepping to the side of the ring. The big ODST slipped under the ropes across from John. Cortana gripped the tough nylon of the ropes in fear.

"I'm gonna rip you to pieces, meat." The big man stretched his shoulders and neck. John simply planted his feet and raised his hands. In the blink of an eye, John launched off his back foot and smashed into the man's chin. He was ruthlessly effective. In a few more seconds he had shattered the man's jaw and collapsed his rib cage and broken his knees. The man stumbled to the ground gasping for air. He fell, his face inches from Cortana. She gasped in surprise and took a step back. This wasn't John. _He isn't some mindless killing machine. But that's what they made him to be, if there was anything human he had to fight to preserve that. Right now, John is just following orders._ She looked into his blue eyes and shuddered at the coldness she saw there. With a collective yell the other three men rushed into the ring at once, one of the with an iron bar in tow.

Cortana placed a hand over her stomach to calm herself but she felt weak. She had to warn him... behind him the man with the iron bar swung back to hit him.

"John, look out!"

Almost as if he heard her, John spun around and grabbed the man's wrist, crushing it against the iron bar. The man cried out in agony and fell back. After that, something seemed to snap in John. Any thinking or conscious thought ceased. He just shifted into kill mode. One well aimed side kick and the third man's pelvis bone was shattered. The stolen iron bar to the last man's neck sent him flipping over the ropes. John stood there, king of the hill once again. This time there were no children cheering him on or wrestling him to the ground. He was the undisputed king of a kingdom of dead men. Cortana cried out in pain and drew back. It was too much. She didn't blame John but this was wrong. Not only what was done to the ODSTs but what was done to John. He didn't care!

"At ease number 117"

John dropped the bar instantly, like it was burning hot. He watched it's descent with a mixture of revulsion and disgust. There was blood on his hands, fresh blood.

"Chief Mendez sir!" The sergeant at the base of the ring stammered in shock from what he had just witnessed. "What are you-"

His eyes fell on John who innocently gazed back at them at attention.

"He's one of them isn't he?"

Cortana glanced at John to see if he noticed. He di. His eyes fell and his head jerked slightly. He was no fool. He and the other Spartans had to sense how they were hated and feared.

"Medics are on their way." Mendez coolly replied "There are two intel officers waiting for you in ops. They'll debrief you. I suggest you report to them immediately."

"Yes, sir." The sergeant double timed it out of the room glancing at John in fear.

Cortana felt her stomach turn as the wounded men continued to moan. John gazed at them with an unreadable expression too.

"Your workout is over for today." Mendez said, pointedly.

John looked up, saluted and jumped off the ring. Mendez started walking towards the entrance as a crew of medical officers hurried to the ring.

John rushed to catch up with him. "Permission to speak, sir!" Mendez turned slowly and nodded

"Were those men part of a mission? Were they targets or teammates?" John asked. He was still so young, it was easy to forget with his face and his physical condition.

Cortana hoped against hope Mendez would give some sort of soothing answer. Of course he didn't.

"You engaged and neutralized a threat. That actions seems to have answered your questions, squad leader."

John nervously shifted on his feet and gazed back at the severely injured men. "I followed the chain of command. The sergeant told me to fight. I was threatened and in imminent danger. But they were still UNSC special forces. Fellow soldiers."

This was the man she knew. So honest, brave and loyal. Kind despite the brainwashing...wise despite the run of the mill commands...and loving despite the circumstances.

Cortana touched his hand in sympathy to his struggle. John flinched as if he felt it.

 _What keeps doing that?_ Cortana wondered. This isn't the first time I've gotten a reaction.

"Not every mission has simple objectives or comes to a logical conclusion. Your priorities are to follow the chain of command and then to preserve your life and the lives of your team. Is that understood?" Mendez searched John's eyes for any sign of insubordination or confusion.

"Sir. Yes, sir." John quickly saluted and took his leave of Mendez. Cortana hastened to keep up pace. He was mad, or confused. John always walked like that when he was mad. It was how she knew he was mad when he fought the didact. Shoulders high, neck on a constant pivot. John continued down the twisting hallway until he came to a room marked, 'showers.' He pushed through the door quickly and slammed it shut.

"Please don't let this eat you up John. It wasn't your fault" Cortana whispered as John paced the room. Finally he stopped and took a deep breath as if purging himself of something. He let the breath go slowly. He checked his heart rate. Back to normal. It hurt seeing him conflicted. Here he was, just becoming a full fledged soldier and he may have caused his first death. Taking a deep breath and threading her fingers together, she approached him.

"You have to stay strong John. I hope you can hear me. You have to fight the Gravemind. What ever he's doing to you, you have to fight him. Please John. Goodness knows you're stubborn enough to fight him."

John sighed deeply as if finishing a thought and went around the corner into the showers. Cortana nervously twiddled her hair between her fingers, trying to distract herself with the sensation. She made small co-centric circles on her palms, and ran her hair up and down the lines on her hands. From around the corner the sound of splashing water ceased. From around the corner, looking cleaner but no more refreshed, he came out freshly dressed in a new set of BDUs. Throwing his towel over his shoulders, John marched out of the showers to the common room. There, small groups of Spartans were spread out. In the corner, blue team stood in a tight knot. John made his way over, Sam and Kelly stood aside to welcome John into their circle. Linda was seated on a bench, her sniper rifle laid out across her knees. Fred smiled at John then motioned for him to be silent. Kelly clicked the timer and said "Go!" As soon as she had spoken the word, Linda disassembled her rifle and quickly reassembled it into a new configuration. Cortana was amazed. Clearly John was too.

"Done" She said in her ever calm voice.

Kelly clicked the watch and showed it to Sam who gave a low whistle of approval.

"8 seconds Linda. Well done."

"I'm not sure even I could be that fast!" Kelly complemented her.

"It's nothing." Linda modestly said, as she put the rifle down.

Her arms still looked painfully thin but they were beginning to regain their harsh muscle tone.

"It's not nothing. Well done." John said with a gentle touch to Linda's shoulder.

All the members of Blue Team turned to give John their full attention. They immediately noticed something off.

" John, what is it?" Kelly asked quickly.

Fred and Linda exchanged worried glances and Sam shifted closer to John.

John put on a stoic face and tried to play it cool. "Nothing, I just came back from a training exercise."

He was lying and they could tell. Cortana could see it plain as day on their faces. For a minute they were silent but Sam finally broke the awkward pause by placing a hand down on John's shoulder. "We're with you brother. Until the end."

John swallowed, clearly trying to suppress some emotion. He nodded in thanks. This was enough for Blue Team. They recognized the signs they were all experiencing. The pain, the emotional detachment, the worry you'd never be whole again. Turning back to Linda they all began to excitedly discuss their newfound abilities. John stood just outside their circle, smiling when they looked at him but deep in thought. He would always be just a little apart from them emotionally and physically. He was a leader, his concerns should not bother the team. He would have to bear this cross alone.

Cortana felt tears rise up in her eyes as she backed away. Once again the memory seemed to shrink on itself and fade leaving her standing next to the cryopod. Wiping away at the tears bitterly she started to climb in when she saw the lights on the cryopod door were no longer flashing. They shone brightly and strongly.

"That's right chief. Have hope. I will if you will, that's a promise."

* * *

 **Post author's note.**

 **So, what do you guys think? You know how much I love to read your comments so please, do comment. Also, I would love to hear any of your Halo 6 theories as well. I'm always interested in what fans come up with. Let's be honest here, Halo fans are some of the coolest and most creative fans in any sci-fi fandom. Let's be proud of that folks! Also, if anyone has a tumblr that posts Halo stuff...I'd love it if somebody could post my story on there with a link so they can read it too. I don't have a tumblr but I am sure some people never go on this website as a first choice. Please? See you all next time Reclaimers! Long Live Halo**

 **LadyReclaimer**


	10. That Ol' Gregorian Chant

**Author's Note: Hey-o there Reclaimers! I am sorry that I haven't uploaded in over two weeks. Life has gotten super crazy! I promise I have read all your comments. Thanks for the support! I think I will take the time to comment on them all on next chapter. Also, I don't know if you've checked the comments, but my younger sister has started to comment under the code name of BabyReclaimer. She is also a Halo fan, just one of those rare breeds of people who manage to NOT let it consume every waking moment of your thoughts. So, if you could welcome her in the comments. I'm sure she'd get a kick out of it. As an apology for taking so long to update. I wanted to share with you guys my playlist for songs I use to get me in the right mood for halo stories or Johntana stories. So, anyone who rights stories with Cortana in it, this is perfect for you**

 **Human-Christina Perri (This is really my theme song for The Glass Cage. I seriously listen to it almost every time I write it. If you listen to it, I think you'll see it instantly)**

 **Stiches-Shawn Mendez (This one is useful for John's mentality. I don't know, it's just catchy and it kinda matches.)**

 **Stand by you-Rachel Platten (This is really Blue Team's theme song. So anytime I write them, on goes the song.**

 **Frozen Sleep-Malukah (This song was actually written about Cortana. So if you listen to it...AHHH prepare for the feel wave.)**

 **Waka Waka this time for Africa-Shakira (I know this one is actually about soccer, but the first few lines ..."You're a good soldier, choosing your battles, pick yourself up and dust yourself off and back in the saddle. You're on the front lines, everyones watching...etc." are really perfect. This song just reminds me of the Spartans attitude I don't know why.)**

 **Anyway, if I remember more, I will write them down in a later chapter. Also, if you have a favorite song that puts you in the Halo or Johntana mood. Write it in the comments. I'd love to hear them.**

 **Now, the little...Flashback that John has in this chapter is actually taken from some deleted dialogue from Halo 4...I mean come on, it was just too poignant not to use.**

 **(The characters and locations from this work are the intellectual property of 343i. Clearly, otherwise this wouldn't be on a fanfiction site now would it?)**

* * *

Master Chief...he didn't deserve that title. Maybe he did once. Maybe there had been a time when he was the perfect leader the spartans needed. If he was ever that kind of soldier he couldn't remember. If he was being honest with himself, he felt as if his life began with Reach was destroyed. His greatest failure define him, before Reach fell he was the Master Chief, pure and , he believed he definitely didn't deserve the title. What had he done since New Phoenix? Act recklessly, try to die in combat. He had thought that maybe if he could die like Sam, his...sins would be wiped away, but when he had discovered Cortana was alive...for the first time...he had had a reason to live. He wasn't ready to die. John remembered back to a conversation he and Cortana had had when approaching the composer. She had been worried about her impending fatality and was confessing to him her fear of death. The memory played vividly in John's mind as he meditated. He could see the forerunner facility, throbbing with alien energy around him. Before him the composer glowed brilliantly. He could feel himself running, as fast as his weary body could carry him from platform to platform as he neared the Composer.

"And if we can't...John...I don't know that I'm ready." Cortana shakily admitted, her voice fading in and out with static

John remembered his inner calm at that moment. "Nobody ever is, Cortana, but we all reach the end...someday."

"No John...It's just that...I'm not ready...to lose y-" Cortana was interrupted and withdrew timidly into John's mind as the Composer suddenly pulsed brilliantly, shaking the platform on which the Master Chief ran. John remembered looking up at the device in alarm then double timing it across the open space.

"Cortana! Something's happening!" John shouted to make sure Cortana was alert and aware of the impending danger.

There was no need. She was already thinking and running calculations.

"The composer, it's preparing to fire!"

"NO!" John remembered spraying down a pair of crawlers as he leapt over obstacles in his path. The blind rage in his mind switching his attacks to pure instinct.

"If we can just reach the composer's control's maybe I can.."

"No time for maybe's, Cortana. It needs to be stopped... at any cost." John's hand instinctively brushed the nuke magnetically affixed to his back.

His visor blurred purple and blue as Cortana panicked.

"John, you can't mean..." Cortana whispered.

"I think we both knew this was a one way trip."

John sighed and let the memory fade away. He realized now why he had been so at peace then. Cortana was going to die, yes. But so was he. He would have done everything in his power to save her, and then they would both end as they had begun their partnership. Together. That was what was different. He didn't feel an urge to fall in battle as he had after the events at New Phoenix because he had something to live for, but he had not felt this fear to die then like he did now because he was going to die with his reason to live.

He was no longer the Master Chief, no longer the trusted leader. He had risked the lives of his team mates, of the UNSC, of humanity. Yes, his teammates refused to let him go alone, yes the UNSC had lied to him and hidden Cortana's survival, but he had owed it to the greater good to belay his feelings. To focus on his given mission and accept the chain of command. For the greater good.

 _You do know that was Cortana's mentality right? "For the greater good," it was only her emotions which caused her to delay her plans and bring you here. You gave the UNSC time to prepare. Whether they were aware of it or not._

John's eyes snapped open from meditation at the surprising sound of the silky smooth male voice. For the last...well, John wasn't sure how much time had past. But for a very long time there had been a...dark and malevolent presence in his mind. Whispering evil half-truths into his ear. It made him for sick and angry, like he could tear at his skin just to relieve the pain. Looking into the abyss that presence presented John realized the origin of all human suffering. Pain, loss, fear, anger, hatred, self-loathing, jealousy, greed, gluttony, this and more was open to him, and the presence had whispered every justification of why John should give into those feelings. In the end, it was the thought of Blue Team, trapped in the cryptum as well, that had given him the strength to stay strong. John felt a tinge of bitterness mixed with humor as he realized that they had come to be the support he used to find in Cortana. Eventually the dark presence had retreated, leaving John alone with his thoughts again. In order to escape his dangerous thoughts John had utilized his training of mediation, tricks Spartans learned to withstand torture. He had been alone in his contemplation for what felt like three hours. This was a new presence, and John was not going to trust it lightly.

"who are you?"

 _John, I cannot reveal myself to you. Only know that I am a friend._

John slowly raised himself up from his kneeling position and stood upright. A tightness in his chest reminded him that he desperately wanted to hope. John fought back the feeling and cryptically focused on the voice.

"Why not?"

 _Oh, John. Can the head on a quarter show itself to the eagle? Just know that we are bound. I cannot show myself fully to you for reasons which are metaphysically impossible and quite frankly unimportant to explain._ _The malevolent presence in your mind, the one you have been fighting. I have come to warn you about him. He is trying to corrupt you. You must trust me, Cortana she's not who you think she is. There is an...NO!_

The voice cried out in pain and the calm presence withdrew. Leaving John alone again.

"Hello?" John felt his hand instinctively touch the back of his head, where the neural link was. It was a nervous tick he had developed in high stress situations. John quickly dropped his hand down again.

"Hello!?" John shouted into the white mist around him.

The oppressive silence had left him alone again. Alone with his thoughts. What had happened to that...thing...and what was it?

A sudden rumbling caught John off guard as the dark presence returned once again.

 **Hello, Master Chief. How could you be so foolish as to hope that there was someone out there fighting for you? Cortana has abandoned you. Your friends have abandoned you. You are weak, and you are alone. Why do you cling to hope?**

"Because I have faith."

" **In what? Everyone has betrayed you. Just submit, join your mind with mine. Together we will find peace.**

The presence pressed in on John's mind again, greedily, anxiously and causing John searing agony. The white mist around him slowly began to fade into gray. John could feel the blood rush out of his head, causing him to stumble dizzily.

 **Cortana betrayed you. Kill her. Kill her Kill her. When she comes near you, kill her. If you don't you're no leader. Kill her, KILL HER KILL HER!**

John grabbed his head and shouted in agony as the voices got louder and louder. That Abyss of emotion was yawning before him, and right now he was seeing no choice but to fall in.

* * *

Cortana lay back, her hair sticking uncomfortably to the gel layer in the crypod, and wondered what it would be like when she finally met John face to face. Bornstellar had made it sound as if, if all went well, they would be reunited in some manner. But how? In his mind? In the Cryptum? The thought made her feel strangely vulnerable, she had never been more thankful for the simple dress she was wearing.

 _I don't even know what I look like. Do I look like I used to, or do I look like her now..._

She squinted at the glass inside of the cryotube but it was too foggy to give off a reflection.

 _What if I do look like Altana?_

The thought made her stomach flip flop guiltily as she heard John's accusing voice say "You've changed." Hopefully he wouldn't mind TOO MUCH. She sighed and inhaled deeply, letting the metallic tinged air fill her lungs and belly.

"John. Honestly, I just hope you're not in one of your closeminded and stubborn moods. Because, it's gonna be hard to explain otherwise. I mean, what DO I say? Hello, Chief. No, I didn't kill millions of people and imprison you in the Cryptum. That was another Cortana?" Cortana laughed slightly and closed her eyes.

"I know what you would say if you were here with me. You would just tell me to "tell the simple truth, it suffices." with that solemn voice of yours. I miss it, frankly."

The thought of his voice filled Cortana with a vast sense of emptiness, of incompleteness. She wondered, if she ever made it out of this and John too, and if he couldn't forgive her, what would she do?

Almost as if in answer to her thought, the cryodoor swung open. A bright light beckoned from without. It seemed to be telling her to, "find out for yourself."

As soon as Cortana climbed out of the cryopod, it's door swung shut and it slowly faded into nothingness. Leaving her alone, standing in the midst of a fenced courtyard. Titanium alloy walls lined with electric razor wire on top surrounded a large compound. At the center of which, a large gray building stood, only two stories high, but flying the flag of the UNSC. It's diminutive size belied the larger and impenetrable complex beneath, courtesy of ONI. Like most training facilities it's appearance was innocuous, a UNSC outpost, nothing more. In the far left corner of the courtyard, there was a wide swath of grass with a few decorative trees paralell to the outer wall. Cortana looked with curiosity at a small knot of people standing beneath the swaying branches of one of the trees.

Spartans. Nothing could hide that practiced formation and statue like stillness. Cortana gazed around curiously but noticed that no one else seemed to be out and about on the compound, other than the tower look outs who occasionally glanced towards the Sparans curiously. Cortana jogged over to them quickly.

There were at least twenty of them there, they stood, side by side, shoulders touching gazing at a black obelisk beneath one of the trees. Cortana tried to squeeze between them, but they were all too closely knotted together, she tried to peer over their shoulders but that wasn't going to happen. Cortana huffed and stood outside of the line until one Spartan broke the line and walked away from the others. It was John! A horrible expression of loss and guilt was etched on his face, Cortana wanted to walk after him but she HAD to see what had caused the reaction. Slipping into his place, between Linda and Kely, Cortana saw the black obelisk. It was simple enough, UNSC insignia and a few other words. On the face of the obelisk were names...the names of Spartans, all of whom had died in combat and beside each name was written the three simple letters M.I.A. There, freshly scratched into the stone, was Samuel. Every Spartan solemnly looked at the stone in silence. This was the fate that awaited every Spartan, limbo. An unrecognized death by the world, but remembered in the hearts of all their brothers and sisters.

Cortana felt horribly grieved. Samuel, John's first friend of the Spartans, was dead. John had described him as the strongest Spartan with the strongest heart. Never grudging anyone, always forgiving. The first of the Spartans to die in combat. It made her feel ill, these were still, practically children. Grieving the loss of a brother without the affection or understanding of an adult to comfort them.

Then they began to each come up one by one and swipe a Spartan smile against Sam's name. This wasn't practice or ceremony. They hadn't trained for this. It was natural. It was a Spartan's goodbye. The only ones not to go up were the members of Blue Team. Once all the other Spartans had paid their respects to Sam, Blue Team approached the monument, John stood apart, watching with hooded eyes. Fred went first and swiped a Spartan smile like the others, then he knelt on one knee and rested his forehead against the stone with a sigh. Cortana felt tears welling into her eyes. No! This shouldn't be goodbye for them!

Eventually Fred took a shaky breath in and rose to his full height, he stepped aside and stayed standing by the stone. Next came Kelly who stiffly approached the obelisk. For a moment she stood there as if her brain couldn't register and wouldn't register what she was supposed to do. She stood there, swaying in front of it until Linda approached beside her and took her hand. The two knelt side by side in front of the Obelisk and swiped Sam's name affectionately. Kelly, had always been the most emotional of Blue Team and of most of the Spartans. So it was no surprise to the others when hot tears rolled down her face and quiet sobs shook her. Linda, ever calm, kept hold of Kelly's hand and started to hum. At first it was so muted that Cortana couldn't hear, but slowly she gained volume. It was a simple tune, a dark tune, the kind you might hear sung across a lonely mountain top on in an old church. Linda closed her eyes and began to sing, not words but sounds, sounds which told a deeper story than any language ever could. It was haunting and simple and extremely alien. John was pulled out of his reverie by the sounds, he slowly approached behind Linda and Kelly. Placing a hand on their shoulders John starting humming along with Linda.

Cortana felt the hair on her arms stand up as all the Spartans slowly began to pick up the song and sing it.

 _It's Gregorian. They're singing Gregorian chant, or something very like it._

Cortana felt like her heart was swelling with the beautiful song.

Soon the song was so loud it filled the open courtyard. It was a song of mourning and defiance and grief and acceptance. It told of great travels and wide adventures and sudden endings.

Fred and John joined their two sisters in front of the Obelisk. All four of them sang. John sang deeply and steadily, Linda sang high and pure, Kelly sang quietly and richly and Fred sang strong and loud. Finally the four quieted and all the Spartans with them.

As they stopped singing, the world slowed down, just like in the Gym. A foggy gray version of the world began to play around Cortana. A young Kelly darted past Cortana and the older Spartans, chasing after a dog. A few seconds behind her, Sam, Fred, Linda and John, Fhajad, Randall and a few others chased after her. They were laughing, giggling. The poor dog was exhausted and covered in sweat but the children didn't seem to realize it's fright. Cortana watched fascinated as they ran in circles after the animal. John called out to Randall.

"How did it get here?"

"I don't know, maybe it's one of the officer's dogs."

Sam suddenly stopped running and cocked his head curiously. As if a sudden idea had struck him rather forcefully on the head.

"Guys, stop." Sam called out, but the young Spartans didn't hear him.

Sam sat down upon the grass and called out to the dog,

"Come here boy! Come on!" The dog eyed him wearily but after glancing back at the horde of children chasing him he dove quickly into the safety of Sam's outstretched arms.

The other Spartans pulled up short as they gazed in wide eyed amazement at Sam.

"How did you do it?" Kelly asked breathlessly.

Cortana approached the wispy apparitions intrigued. Clearly, John was thinking of this memory at the funeral.

Sam shrugged casually and stroked the small caramel brown head.

"He just was scared, is all. We had a dog at...my house." The Spartans exchanged glances, clearly they didn't talk about their past lives often. Soon the other Spartan kids were sitting on the grass and taking turns petting the dog. After he was done meeting all the children the dog wandered wearily back into Sam's lap.

"He looks tired!" Fred said, in a high soft voice.

"I have an idea." Sam began to sing a song. THE SONG from the funeral. He quietly rubbed the dogs ears as he sang the tune. The quiet melody instantly put the dog to sleep and fasincated the other children.

"Where did you learn that?" Linda whispered in amazement.

Sam frowned slightly as he recalled the memory.

"It was a song we used to sing at church...it had words. I don't remember them, only the chants."

"Will you teach us?" Randall asked timidly, in his mild British accent.

"Sure," Sam started to teach the other children how to sing the song. As he did, the world around Cortana suddenly began to regain life and color. The ghostly figures of the young Spartans blew away on a gust of wind. Suddenly, she was standing back in the funeral. Cortana didn't know how to feel at first. At first she felt strangely numb at the sheer horror of what she had seen. But then it hit her. This song, this song of farewell was Sam's song but it was also all of their song, it was the half remembered truth of their past life, stating bravely the state of their current life and aware that it could end, unrecognized by the world at any time.

Cortana knelt down and rested her hands in her hair, vainly trying to stop her bitter tears. It was no use, they rolled down her face and hand anyway.

Slowly the other Spartans trickled away back to the compound, Blue Team stood alone by the Obelisk.

Linda took a deep breath and spoke first. "I was remembering that time Sam taught us the song."

"Me too." John admitted.

Kelly smiled bitterly through her red rimmed eyes. "You remember what he named the dog?"

"Chief Owl, right?"

"Yeah." John said with a sigh. "yes he did."

Fred touched the obelisk fondly. "Goodbye Brother..." He paused, his long pale fingers grazing the stone as if to say more but he couldn't. So Fred, John, Kelly, and Linda walked side by side back to the compound, leaving Cortana in front of the stone, all alone.

Cortana weeped unabashedly. For herself, for Sam, for John, for all the other Spartans, abandoned and forgotten. The tears felt freeing and yet at the same time they bound her. They bound her to a duty that she must do everything in her power to stop this ever from happening again. But to do this she would have to stop Altana. And she would.

The grief finally lessend and in it's place, Cortana found a strength and a courage she hadn't before. Getting up from the ground, Cortana was resolved.

"Warden or Gravemind. Whoever is REALLY pulling the strings here. You will pay for what you are making John suffer now. For what you are making them ALL suffer."

This time, as the Cryopod arrived, Cortana stoically went inside. She would find John, even if it destroyed her. She would find him.

* * *

 **Post Author's note:**

 **Well, there you have it guys. The song the spartans were singing is the Halo theme song. The Halo theme is officially Sam's song in my head now. Great, now I will cry every time I hear the song. I hope you liked this chapter. It may be a bit sloppy and have bad grammar but I am literally posting it and will re-edit it tomorrow. You all deserve a new chapter and I am exhausted. I hope you enjoy!**

 **Goodbye Reclaimers! Long Live Halo!**

 **LadyReclaimer**


	11. 11 An eventual descent of the mind

**Author's note: Hey there Reclaimers! Welcome back! I apologize for the spotty updates. I swear that this summer you will get an update at least every other week, maybe even once a week. I am gonna keep my A.N short today because it is reply to comments time! *Fanfare* Woohoo. So, let's get started.**

Umbra Sequuntur Somnia: I am so happy you like this story. Especially if you don't normally like reading Halo fanfic, and I agree, the official Halo story is good enough on it's own...I just couldn't leave it well enough alone. ;)

Grave Walkers: Yes, I was implying that the home screen chant is a special like...mourning song for the Spartans, taught by Sam from his days in church to the other Spartans. I thought he wouldn't remember the words, but if he had an ear for music he might remember the melody. Hence the haunting wordless AHHHS in the song.

Trap3r: Ahhh yes, the Templar's chant. I also think another fitting response to this chapter would be, "Réquiem ætérnam dona eis, Dómine,  
et lux perpétua lúceat eis. Requiéscant in pace. Amen.

Mr. Wiffels. Good to hear from you again , I'm sorry I made you cry! I hope that I can continue to elicit such powerful emotions from you, just hopefully they'll turn positive soon.

Kilroyactual117: Ah, Kilroy. I already sent a lengthy response to your comment but I'll do a quick public one anyway. I'm so pleased that you thought the Spartans were in character, that means a lot coming from you.

TomyasDraven34: WOOHOO, a story newcomer! I hope you're enjoying it so far. I also sent a review to your one Dungeons and Dragons story. Good work!

CreeperMaster343: What an intriguing idea...It may come into play very soon...we shall see. (Mwahahahahhahahahahah!) Ahem, well. Thanks for reading and I hope you continue to do so and enjoy.

EliteZealot936: I'm so happy you are enjoying this, it means so much. You guys really have made this horrible month and a half bearable, even though I have been horrible with not updating.

Lighting Wolf Knight: Aww...I'm sorry you don't like this story. It's not for everyone, and you're right, Halo is set a certain way. I just wrote this story for any fans like me who wanted to see a more positive alternative then the heartbreak we all suffered. Even though you didn't like my story, I hope you can find other Halo Fanfiction which is more to your liking.

Camilade117: Hi! I'm happy to see you're enjoying this! Well, one deleted scene which I am not including can be found on YouTube, Halo 4 deleted dialogue midnight, it's the motion capture actors talking. But the clip I was using was just a bit of a cut script, it was mentioned on a Haruspis Tumblr post, however when I try to paste the link my profile keeps deleting it so if you go on the Haruspis tumlbr and type into the search box 'cut dialogue' you will see a reference that says something like "we can't forget when they cut this scene for being too sad" and then you'll see the link . (I don't blame you for not clicking on random links but it just leads to the imgur picture of this cut script. Again, I don't know how valid it is but it seemed valid enough to include in a scene.

 **Alright, well. I think I've gotten to everyone. Please keep reviewing it's so much fun to respond to you guys, it's like I really know you...okay that sounded weird. MOVING ON. This next chapter is something to get us back into the swing of things after that long hiatus, (I actually had to go back and read a few of the chapters to re-acquaint myself with the plot! So embarassing)**

* * *

To be alone, it's a simple enough concept. As John struggled desperately to meditate and close his mind off to whatever was slowly eating it's way inside, he tried to focus and define what this idea meant. For the average person, John could only assume that to be alone simply meant solitude, a state which caused some people to find contentment and peace where others are lonely. He couldn't define it so loosely.

Technically speaking, Spartans like to be alone. There's nothing worse to them than listening to the idle light chatter of a bunch of noncoms and civilians around them. ONI crafted their perfect soldiers to be ruthless, deadly efficient and loyal instruments of war without cracks, the unbreakable barrier defending earth. However, they had unintentionally created a flaw within their perfect soldiers. Having deprived them of their families at a young age, an age when bonding and relationships are key to development, the young spartan recruits grew tight and intimate family bonds with each other. There was always a brother or sister on either side to keep each other company, whether it was exercise drills on the lawn or watching from a crows nest in a training exercise, a Spartan is never really alone. There's always a feeling that you have someone behind you and even should a spartan be alone, there's always that..."feeling" that they're the ones they're fighting for.

The destruction of Reach had crushed him like nothing else ever had, coming back to Reach after the discovery of the first Halo ring had certainly set him back on his heels. The knowledge that everything he knew and trusted were gone had shaken himself to his core, in those few hours when he had thought that all of his spartans were dead, he remembered staying closer to Cortana. At least mentally, double checking on every report and update just to hear her voice in his head and feel reassured of a familiar presence. She couldn't replace his brothers and sisters, and as he so often repeated to himself, "All hardware can be replaced." _But was she really hardware?_ The word "hard" suddenly distracted John back to his surroundings, he could feel his knees growing sore from kneeling on the hard ground for so long... NO! John quickly detached his mind from his physical state as he felt that OTHER presence quickly notice his lapse in focus and try to attack him agian, this time too late to affect a great change. John wondered how long he would be able to maintain that.

For what had felt like days after that mysterious male voice had warned him about something trying to hurt him John had been under psychological warfare from this mysterious entity. Something about it felt familiar; it's very presence felt heavy, oppresive and nauseating. Only by focusing in intense mediation and reflection was he able to shield himself completely from it's advances.

Slowly exhaling, John returned to the thought of Solitude. After that initial heartbreak at Reach, he had forced himself to get accustomed to isolation. Seperating himself even more from social events or public sight, even Seargeant Johnson had a hard time dragging him in front of the cameras for the award ceremony aboard Cairo station. In retrospect, John realized that it was a mistake, he had grown more accustomed to being without the company of other spartans but he had grown more dependant upon Cortana for company and...friendship.

John silently cursed himself for allowing himself to trust her, the betrayal and pain was unspeakably raw. It occured to John why this betrayal hurt him so deeply, but he quickly ignored the thought. He didn't think he was ready for that level of self examination. Her betrayal hurt him more than Soren's had, and Soren had been a brother of his, known for longer than Cortana. Yet, despite the pain he felt from this betrayal, he knew he could never hate her. Not what she had been. She had always put others' safety before her own, doing brave acts worthy of any spartan. Sure, she talked alot...he never minded, yes she was stubborn, but so was he. Yes, she was arrogant, but her compassion made her understanding. Reflecting back, John realized he was never good at being alone. Cortana entered his life when he was going to need someone most...and now that she had left he was beginning to understand just what that meant.

A flickering at the edge of John's vision pulled at his attention. The strange thing was, his eyes were closed. The flickering increased, like the blur of static. Flashing blue bands spread across the darkness in his eyes, an achingly painful and familiar face looked up at him, the eyes were ringed with tears and the face slightly cringed with pain. A man's familiar voice was in the background, almost as if he was being talked to by a man in the distance, he felt a hand graze his own. Flinching, John opened his eyes and looked over at where Cortana had been, but she was gone.

None of this made any sense, frankly. For emotional or psychological torture these spotty images of Cortana were confusing at best. He knew her to be much cleverer than he was; she was just like her creator after all. She had to know that if she wanted to break him and "corrupt his mind" as the mysterious "friend" had warned him then she was not trying very hard. Maybe that wasn't her mission after all...John felt that cold fury start to build again. From the back of his head he felt an aching pressure, as if the only way to aleviate the pain was to lash out at something, or someone. _WHAT DOES SHE WANT!_ John slammed his fist against the smooth ground beneath him, but he didn't see the tiny black fractures which spreadout from beneath that impact.

Somewhere in the darkness of John's mind he heard a malevolent laugh, and the dark presence crept ever nearer towards victory.

* * *

High above the desperate combat that was occuring down on Genesis, Altana stood brooding on the north western abandoned platform. Lifeworkers had used it long ago, or so she had learned from her time in the Domain. When she had been an A.I, or fully an A.I, she often looked up to and viewed the Forerunners with a bit of awe. While she knew that they were only sentient organics like humans, their vast technological superiority made them appear nearly God-like. However, when she had finally healed herself in the domain, and gained all the knowledge a curious mind could want to know, she found herself feeling very lonely. It was as if she had spent her whole life with a mission to climb a mountain and meet the mysterious people who told her to climb, but when she arrived she found an empty castle, the inhabitants long dead, leaving her a cold throne and no one to meet her intellectually. The people below this metaphorical mountain, once so dear, still so dear to her, had been left to her care. The hardest thing was knowing that they needed hard treatment and a harsh rule. They would never understand what it looked like from up on the mountain, they would only grow to despise her,hate her.

John would grow to hate her.

Altana breathed in the sharp air which whipped around the side of the platform, it felt metallic and sharp. She sighed and dug her sharp holographic nails into the metal, needing anything to help her feel grounded. Cortana had been right, something was definitely wrong, though Altana didn't believe her that there was some remnant of the logic plague within her, she would have felt disruptions in her processing loops. Cortana had merely sensed an abnormality and was trying to play on her weaknesses. And yet...

Altana sent up a signal to the warden to come to her at his earliest convenience. Under her orders he had so far held back from the fight with Osiris, but she could feel his desperation through their connection. A tenuous response was felt through their bond, clearly he would rather they converse in the Domain. The warden prefered it, their identities meshing in the labyrinth of code and effortless communication. To him, this labored effort of conversation was unwieldy and ineffective. Yet it was the one thing that helped her feel like she wasn't a complete tyrant on a high up mountain. She yearned to talk to someone, to John. That steady interplay of inflection and tone and jokes and facial expressions...well on her end anyway. Conversation was a social art and the Warden was sorely lacking, but she couldn't talk to John, not while her condition was unstable. He, like the rest of blue team should still be unconscious anyway. Their forced meditation had not yet been activated. They should still be blissfully unaware of their state.

Yet this brought up the same problem, why was she unstable? Was there a flaw in the Domain itself? Who or what was doing this to her?

"You called on me?"

The sudden voice of the Warden startled her. She let go of the plasti-steel railing and composed herself. She couldn't show a weak hand, not even to someone she trusted. She let her voice carry over the wind and kept her back to her compatriot.

"Warden, you and I know that this spartan team has been getting dangerously nearer to the heart of Genesis." She could feel the Warden tense up in anticipation of a command to release his hatred for the Spartans. His bloodlust for humans was getting tiresome, though she respected his ambition. "I intend to learn what their plan is and do all I can to restrict them, in the mean time I was wondering what you had discovered about the flux in the Domain. The hulking forerunner A.I scowled through his skull like mask and glared at Altana.

"There is nothing there, no abnormalities. The only reason you could be detecting flaws with your full ascension is that you insist on retaining many of the shackles your human creators made in you."

Altana raised an eyebrow archly in a warning as her fluorescent blue eyes narowed.

"Are you implying that this is somehow, my fault?"

The warden remained as calm as ever. He hulked over her at 11 feet tall, and looked down at her with the expression of a wearied caretaker of a petulant child. Altana found it very hard to remain firm under that gaze for some reason.

"Don't be naive, Cortana. Of course it is your fault. Admit it and you can grow past it. Your insistence to retain this vulgar form, to use their colloquialisms or metaphors...a tyrant on a mountain doesn't even remotely state your vast power and potential. If you were to ju-"

Altana felt her heart stop. The steady rhythmic beating which, though illusion, had been strangely comforting now froze in her chest. "What did you just say?"

The warden remained silent. His orange gaze stared down as if she already knew the answer.

"How did you know what I was thinking?" Altana said in a voice equal parts rage and fear.

As the silence between them stretched, Altana felt her body tense up as much as her mind, tight as an over taut string.

"Warden. Have you been spying on me!?" Altana practically spit the words at him.

"Monitoring your condition was part of the agreement, it is of paramount importance that nothing shall stand in the way of the destiny of the created. You know this Cortana, allow yourself to let go of this childish notion of privacy, your mind is one with the domain. And I caretake both."

His words stung like a slap in the face. Altana took a step back and struggled to formulate words...it occured to her that she had never had trouble with that before.

The Warden remained where he was but looked out with confidence over the ensuing battle below, where covenant grunts and elites struggled amid bright blasts of plasma to hold back the everincreasing hordes of knights and crawlers. Their piteous howls and shrieks were punctuated with sharp whines of guns discharge. As the Warden looked triumphantly over the destrution, Altana felt a new surge of pity for the poor creatures who had been pulled through with her guardians.

 _Shouldn't I have done something to try to help them?_

The Warden finally spoke, with the air of a condescending parent. "After your interference on my attack on your beloved family of warriors, I knew you couldn't be fully relied on. You don't have the nerve to fully commit to your destiny. Yet do not think I blame you, Cortana. This is not of your will, and it is for love of what you will become that I do this. To protect your destiny and the galaxy's I put in safegaurds to limit your control over me and my warriors."

Altana stepped closer to him, angrily. "Out of my presence then, I have no love for those Spartans down below, but you have proven yourself to be just as untrustworthy." With a flick of her delicate wrist Cortana created a rift into the Domain, she stared up at the Forerunner construct defiantly. "Leave my presence, I don't care what you do, from now on. My business is no concern of yours." The Warden bowed his head in acknowledgement, but Altana couldn't help the feeling that she had just played into his plans.

From up above, Cortana could see the Warden join the fray and begin to mow down waves of the covenant.

Desperately Altana flung herself back into the Domain to escape the screams. It was a bitter escape, as the hellfire-ish agony of the Domain swallowed her up into it's twisting folds. In a desperate attempt to keep her "head afloat" Altana tried to channel her logic into a path through the code. However, something in the domain shifted the code into strange and unusual patterns that made it difficult to follow. She found herself getting lost amidst it's patterns; she began to feel like she was being cornered. That familiar strangling feeling wrapped itself around her being. Her code flailed desperately as she screamed in silence at the uncontrollable pain. With no escape in view, Altana finally began to see just how far her mind was unravelling, and how hopeless she was to stop it.

* * *

"Come on you blasted piece of machinery, work!"

Cortana kicked the cryopod with her bare foot but instantly regretted it as it made a resounding 'thwack'. Hopping on one foot, and quietly swearing under her breath, Cortana balanced herself against its metal side. For the past few hours, Cortana had been stuck next to the cryopod, no lights had come on, no fog proceeding a jaunt to one of John's memories.

The thought had occurred to her that if it wasn't working that meant that John had given in and the logic plaque destroyed his mind, but that would mean that Altana would be destroyed and so would she, so that option was clearly not it. But what? Cortana sighed and sunk down to the ground beside the cryopod.

 _What kind of deluded destinies are we living? I mean, who could have designed ALL OF THIS, and thought this was a good idea. That's how I know there's no God, if he cared about people why wouldn't he send them help..._ Cortana paused as a little voice inside seemed to say, "John was sent there for them." _Oh yeah, well who was there for him? Me? I betrayed him when he should have been able to trust me._

 _If you did exist, you wouldn't mind giving me a helping hand would you?_ Cortana asked sarcastically.

A pause, and nothing happened.

Cortana laughed hollowly and thunked her head back.

 _Yeah, I thought so._

All of a sudden the machinery slowly whirred to life, the overhead light flickered even more than usual and it looked VERY run down but at least it was working. Cortana looked up and narrowed her eyes.

 _Well played Cosmos, well played._

She climbed up into the cryopod and pulled the door shut. As the fog filled up the room outside, and Cortana felt her consciousness slip she felt just for a second an inexplicable terror, as if she was being torn apart. Then the sensation was gone. She had the distinct feeling that somewhere, somehow, Altana was in serious danger.

Silence.

Cortana never knew how long it took between arrival and awakening in these strange memories but one thing she hated was the pounding headache upon regaining consciousness. Running her left hand over her scalp and using the right to prop open the lid of the pod Cortana stumbled out.

The comfortable sound of a tent edge flapping caught her attention immediately, next was the bright glow of the sun which spilled from under the large octagonal tent walls and though the skylight. Around the perimeter of the tent, A few roll away lab trolleys were covered with Mjolnir armor adaption tools or laptops for re-calibrating. In the center of the tent, John stood enclosed in his Mjolnir armor and listening to the instruction of a lab jockey. The setting was vaguely familiar, like a far off memory, she slowly approached John as she tried to recall the memory.

Dr. Halsey and John stepped down off of the raised platform towards a small table with equipment.

John's deep bass voice rang out across the tent, "You said there were two major system improvements Doctor?"

Catherine smiled at John's question and pulled out a cube from out of her lab coat. Cortana stopped in her tracks.

"I doubt you've ever seen one of these before. It is the memory processor core of an A.I."

John shifted as if uncomfortable in the armor.

"Like Deja"

"Yes, like your former teacher, but this A.I is slightly different. I'd like to introduce you to Cortana."

* * *

 **Okay, well yes I know, it's cheap to end on a cliffhanger, but you guys have no idea how behind I am in a few assignments. I promise though, in the summer, an update once a week. Anyway, it's taken me long enough to update so you deserve something. I know this chapter was a little dull and expository but it's getting us reinvolved with the story line, nothing too ground breaking happening yet...but don't worry it will. MWAHAHAHAH I love making my two characters suffer! The next few chapters will be mostly Cortana I just felt it important to check in on John and Altana.**

 **Anyway, with this next scene, I know it wasn't necessary and it's only gonna slow my progress to Halo 4 which I'm dying to write but...come on, who didn't think this was the coolest scene in the book. I know I did. Anyway, thanks for reading reclaimers, I hope you're having a wonderful day/evening.**

 **Long Live Halo!**

 **_LadyReclaimer**


	12. 12 The First Time We Met

**Author's note:**

 **Welcome back Reclaimers and new comers to The Glass Cage, now before I start this chapter off, I wanted to make a few notes. Don't worry this won't be as long as last week. Somebody mentioned to me that John didn't meet Cortana in a tent in a desert in Canon because of the Halo 4 cutscene. Actually I am basing this scene off of the book Fall of Reach and how they met in that. Frankly, I thought it was a lot more epic. Also, the scene we see in the Halo 4 cutscene could be when Halsey handed Cortana over before John went off to the pillar of autumn, we aren't sure that's when they met. I will though add a little more dialogue than the book had because they didn't talk too much. Second, I didn't say they were in a desert, they were just in a tent. They're actually on a testing and drill field so grass and rocks and mud in an open field is their environment. The last thing I wanted to say was that I've received some feedback that this book is a little mild and not grownup for fanfic. I am sad to say that if anyone is looking for a story filled with M rated content this isn't it. I usually don't swear when I write because I don't swear in day to day conversation and every author has a different voice. I also feel that cheapening John and Cortana's relationship to a physical obsession is degrading to the morality and depth of their characters. That's not to say that I won't have any physical contact or embrace in the future it's just not what this book is about. Which all of you guys who read this regularly already knew, so this message isn't for you, it's for the few people who have complained about a lack of...excitement in this fic. Everyone can write what they'd like to read and thrillers are more my style.**

 **Phew, alright. Now that the rant is over. On with the story.**

 ***I don't own intellectual rights to any of the Halo franchise characters, concepts or locations. That honor goes to 343i.***

 **P.S. Why do we all put that disclaimer on the top there? It's not like we're expecting authors who own intellectual materials to post it on a fanfiction site...Ah well, I guess I'm gonna keep doing it anyway. :)**

Cortana remembered this, she remembered it VERY well. The first time she had ever met The Master Chief.

That isn't to say, of course, that she hadn't seen his picture or studied him before this.

Cortana closed her eyes and allowed the memory of the day she chose John to wash over her.

It was in Doctor Halsey's office on Reach; the plans to capture a covenent prophet had just been completed. All that remained was to choose a captain for the voyage, and a ship. Cortana had been pleasantly surprised when Halsey informed her that the Mjolnir interface had been completed and she was free to select her carrier for the mission. A Spartan II would carry her during the operation to allow her access to the covenant battlenet and servers.

Dr. Halsey had holographic crystals in the ceiling of her room which allowed any of her A.I s, such as Deja or Cortana to appear full size in her office. Cortana was sitting on the edge of Doctor Halsey's desk, staring at her in shock at the news.

"When does the Mjolnir armor become fully operational? When do I go?" Cortana asked excitedly.

Dr. Halsey gave her a smile like that of an indulgent parent, thrilled at their child's excitement. "Soon. There are a few final modifcations that need to be made in the systems first."

Cortana jumped off the desk and walked towards the far wall of Halsey's office. It was the one place in that dark cavern of lowlighting and scattered coffee cups that was kept meticulously clean and lighted.

"Which one will be mine?" Cortana said breathlessly as she looked at them. She was only a few months old and already she was preparing for combat, for travel!

"They're not pets Cortana, they won't be YOURS." Halsey corrected. After a slight pause, Halsey said cautiously."Which one do you want?"

Cortana looked at all of their faces, processing the data at incalculable speeds. She came to the picture in the center. A young man stood at attention as Vice Admiral Stanforth gave him an award. She wasn't sure what made her stop. After all, as an A.I, external appearance was the least of the qualifying factors used to evaluate someone's potential. However, something about him made her stop. Interesting...yet it wasn't just that strange internal voice which had piqued her interest. As an A.I she technically was looking at the room through the security cameras as well. As she approached the young man's picture she saw Dr. Halsey rise up tensely, as if nervous.

Cortana's mixture of respect and dis-respect of her creator made her curious about whatever could effect her so. She decided to do a little test.

"He's so serious, thoughtful eyes though...Attractive, in a primitive...animal sort of way." Cortana paused for effect. "Don't you think Doctor?"

Turning over her shoulder and raising an arched eyebrow Cortana could see her creator blush slightly and turn back to some papers on her desk.

"Perhaps, Cortana. It would be better if you picked another..."

"You asked me which one I wanted." She retorted sharply

Raising a hand in dismissal Halsey sat back down in her chair tiredly.

"It was a question Cortana I did not give you Carte Blanche to select your are carrier, there are...compatability issues to consider."

Good. A challenge. Cortana reviewed his medical file.

"His neural patterns are in sync with mine within two percent. With the new interface we're installing that should fall well within tolerable levels. In fact-" Cortana flashed a slightly lighter shade of blue as she processed information. " I have just installed a custom interface buffer that will match us within zero point zero eight percent."

Halsey narrowed her eyes at Cortana in frustration, yet she didn't care; she felt triumphant. Cortana took a step towards Halsey's desk and spoke again.

"You won't find a better match with the others, in fact...I can guarantee it." Cortana said coyly.

"I see." With a sigh, Halsey pinched the bridge of her nose and rose from her desk. She walked around it and towards Cortana and the pictures. Her whole appearance seemed to be aged or worn down all of a sudden. Cortana wondered why.

"He was awarded this Legion of Honor medallion because he dove into a bunker of covenant soldiers. He took out twenty by himself and saved a platoon of Marines who were pinned down by a stationary energy weapon emplacment. I've read the report, but I'm still not sure how he managed to do it."

Halsey spoke with an air of awe which mystified Cortana. It was impressive to be sure, but Halsey's respect for this Spartan was strangely deep. Halsey turned her grey eyes to Cortana and looked at her seriously.

"Have you read his CSV?"

In actuality Cortana had already read it a second ago and was re-digesting the file to double-check for anything she had missed.

"I'm actually reading it again right now."

"Then you know he is neither the smartest, nor the fastest nor the strongest of the Spartans. But he is the bravest and in my opinion, he is the best."

"Yes," Cortana whispered as she stepped closer to the Doctor. "I concur with your analysis Doctor."

"Could you sacrifice him if you had to? If it meant completing the mission...could you watch him die?" Halsey asked, not a drop of humor in her voice.

"My priority Alpha order is to complete the mission. The Spartan's safety, as well as my own is Beta level priority."

Halsey nodded as if satisfied with the response.

"Good. Then you can have him."

Cortana released the memory with a sigh and opened her eyes. Things were becoming clearer to her the longer she went through these memories. Clearly, Altana had overridden her Alpha priority command and her Beta level was ruling her actions. Preservation of John and herself.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Cortana re-evaluated the scene in front of her.

It was August 22nd 2552 on Reach. The Master Chief had just been given his new suit but he hadn't been told about her yet, Cortana remembered being in her matrix waited impatiently for them to meet. It was just as she remembered it, but almost...warmer somehow. Not just the physical temperatures but the lighting and the atmosphere, the circular white tent swaying in the breeze. Standing just off of a raised platform in the center The Master Chief stood in his armor looking with his head tilted at Dr. Halsey. Dr. Halsey was trying to explain the concept of an A.I interface to John, he did not seem pleased. Halsey stood in her usual long white coat, her hair drawn into a very short pony tail to keep her white hair out of her face.

This was a part of the conversation which she had not been privy to, despite herself Cortana drew close curiously. With one arm wrapped around herself to feel secure she stepped just behind Halsey to listen. Cortana felt strangely vulnerable being in a memory which she actually shared with John. She wasn't sure she liked the person she used to be and she wasn't sure what John really thought of her.

"There is a new layer sandwiched between your reactive circuits and the inner biolayers of your armor. It is a weave of additional memory processor super-conductor."

"The same material as an A.I's core." John said simply but with implications.

As Dr. Halsey explained in detail how Cortana would interface with him and provide technical support Cortana saw John relax slightly. Halsey outlined her abilities to hack into any firewall and utilize advanced covenant translation software. Cortana stole a glance at her creator's face. Surprisingly it looked remarkably proud as she stated all of Cortana's abilities. Goodness knows she never said that when Cortana was around. As much as she despised what the woman had done Cortana caught herself smiling. She forced the smile away.

"...Her presence will allow you to utilize the suit more effectively."

Just like that, John's posture changed from relaxed to on edge.

"Can she control the Mjolnir armor?"

Interesting. Cortana hadn't even considered that to be even a concern for him.

"No. Cortana resides within the interface between your mind and the suit. She can heighten your reaction by speeding up the impulses in your motor cortex but she cannot make your brain send them."

John's shoulders relaxed slightly but his voice was still guarded as he asked "So this A.I, will be inside my mind?"

Halsey set down Cortana's core on the nearby table and crossed her arms in contemplation.

"That is the question isn't it? I can't answer that, Master Chief. Not scientifically."

"I don't understand."

Halsey smiled at the simple statement. Irrationally, it made Cortana want to give her a good right hook across the face. She didn't know why. Maybe because Halsey took joy in the fact that John was still very much a child in her eyes, still dependent on her for answers and help. Cortana had to twist her fingers together and tear her eyes away from Halsey's face to prevent an outburst.

"What is the mind really? Intuition, reason, emotion-we acknowledge they exist, but we still don't know what makes the human mind work. We model AIs on human neural networks-on electrical signals in the brain because we just know the human brain works..."

Cortana laughed slightly "I don't suppose you ever told him that you made me from a living brain, did you Catherine? That you killed your own clone to make me?"

Oblivious to the voice beside her, Halsey continued explaining the process.

"Cortana resides 'between' your mind and the suit, interpreting the electo-chemical messages in you brain and transferring them to the suit via your neural implant. So, for a lack of a better term, yes, Cortana will be inside your mind."

"Ma'am my priority will be to complete this mission. This AI-this Cortana-may have conflicting directives."

Cortana had never realized that John had been so untrusting of her in the beginning. What changed his mind, she wondered.

"There is no need to worry Master Chief, Cortana has the same mission parameters as you do. She will do anything necessary to make sure your mission is completed. Even if that means sacrificing herself-or you- to do it."

The Master Chief exhaled a deep breath of relief and nodded.

"Now, if you would please kneel down. I think it's about time you two were introduced."

Cortana felt the ground shake slightly as he dropped onto one knee, Halsey walked around him. Just before she inserted the chip, Halsey paused as if aware of the seriousness about what was going to occur. Cortana stared at her creator in amazement. Why would she have doubts now, of all times? Cortana pushed her hand forward in frustration and pushed Halsey's hand, like the guiding hand of fate. Whether it was co-incidence, Halsey inserted the chip just at that moment.

John gave a slight cry of pain and Cortana jumped back, she never knew it had hurt him.

Suddenly, Cortana heard her voice come from the armor's speakers.

"Not a lot of room in here...Hello, Master Chief."

John paused, and glanced at Halsey who just smiled and nodded in encouragement. Cortana got the vague impression of a young schoolboy trying to find the right words to introduce himself. At the time of the memory, Cortana had just assumed that he was being Stoic. Now, looking back she realized how uncomfortable and unfamiliar it must be to him.

"Hello, Cortana."

Cortana heard her young voice give a hum of amusement.

"I'm detecting a high degree of cerebral cortex activity. You're not the musclebound automatons the press makes you out to be."

Cortana winced in memory. At this point, she had had no idea of the origins of the Spartan program.

Cortana remembered distinctly that John had smiled behind his visor at her comment. It was shortlived and if she wasn't an A.I she might have wondered if she was mistaken. He quickly composed himself, but said in a voice that was tinged with a shade of humor.

"Automaton? Interesting choice of words for an Artificial Intelligence."

"Oh ho, so he has a quick tongue to match the sharp mind too. How lucky can one girl get?"

Halsey cleared her voice.

"You must forgive Cortana, Master Chief. She is somewhat high-spirited. You may have to allow for behavioral quirks."

Cortana scoffed at the comment at the same time she heard herself scoff from John's helmet speakers.

She guessed some things never change.

"Yes ma'am."

Over the internal speakers, out of Halsey's earshot. Cortana shot back at John.

"Hey, I'm right here."

Because it was her memory as well as John's it only made sense that she could hear what was said over the internal comm system as well.

"I think we should begin the test straightaway." Halsey said, picking up a small silver case off the table. "There's no better way for you to get acquainted than in simulated combat."

The A.I's clear voice rang out from the suit.

"Wait. No one said anything about combat."

"The ONI brass have arranged a test for you and the new Mjolnir system. There are some who believe you two are not up to the proposed task."

"Ma'am, I'm ready for it Ma'am." John snapped stiffly to attention.

Halsey leaned in as if to double check the seals on his suit but as she got close she whispered. "I know you are Chief, I think some of the ONI brass would prefer to see you fail this test. They may have arranged to make sure you do, no matter your performance."

"I won't fail, Doctor."

A few inches from him, Halsey looked at him worriedly.

"I know you won't."

Stepping away from him, Halsey stood by the entrance to the tent. Master Chief, you are ordered to count to ten after I leave. After that, make your way to the obstacle course. At the far end is a bell. Your objective is to ring that bell." Halsey took a deep breath and continued "You are authorized to...neutralize any threats to complete your objective."

Cortana remembered being in the suit for this conversation and feeling pretty nervous, her first combat run and her unshakeable creator was nervous.

"Be careful...John." Halsey said.

In order to assuage her nervousness Cortana started to talk.

"Uploading combat protocols now. Initiating electronic detection algorithms. Boosting neural interface performance to eighty-five percent. I'm ready when you are... John."

Cortana remembered this memory and the destruction that was soon to follow, she hurriedly ducked beneath one of the work stations and peeked out.

"Master Chief is fine." Chief said dryly.

The sudden sound of clacking surrounded the tent.

Quick to prove herself, Cortana tried to help.

"Analyzing sound pattern, Database match Identified as-"

"As someone cycling the bolt of an MA5B assault rifle. I know. Standard-issue weapons for Orbital Drop Shock Troopers."

His quick response surprised his A.I who responded back in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Well since you're in the know Master Chief. I assume you have a plan...?"

The real Cortana pushed herself under the table and plugged her ears in preparation for what was about to occur.

"Yes."

"Presumably that plan doesn't involve getting shot."

"No."

By now, the young Cortana was getting irritated.

"So what IS your plan?"

"I'm going to finish counting to ten."

As the A.I groaned in irritation, shadows swung around the edge of the tent.

 _Eight seconds_

The chief closed his eyes to focus and took a deep breath.

The sounds of heavy footfalls filled the tent.

 _Nine seconds_

Three ODSTs entered the tent, Heavy black swat gear, and rifles readied. They settled their sights and opened fire.

* * *

 **Now before anyone reacts angrily, may I just say that this is a long chapter in the book and on top of that, I had forgotten to include the chapter where Cortana choses John in Halsey's office so that took up space. These scenes are both canonical. You can read them in the Fall of Reach if you want, only a few lines of dialogue did I change. When I first read fall of reach and John said "I'm going to finish counting to ten" I laughed so hard I fell off my chair. Personally this is a much cooler meet up than in a hanger. Especially toward the end of the fight. Those who have read it will know what I mean. It just seems fitting that they would meet each other and learn to trust each other in a firefight on their first day. I hope to have the second half up within a week. We'll see what life throws me. In the meantime. I love you all who read this, thanks for having fun with me. I hope that after E3 we'll have alot of awesome stuff to talk about.**

 **See you later Reclaimers, Long Live Halo!**

 **_LadyReclaimer**


	13. Out Of The Frying Pan

**Hey there Reclaimers, and welcome back to the Glass Cage.**

 **Thanks for the feedback Mr. Wiffles and Kilroyactual117. I understand what you're saying about Cortana being a tad annoying, but the fact is, I didn't change her from the book. Before Halo she was a lot more optimistic and annoying. I think that it is due to the fact that she is very inexperienced and has always gotten her way. I mean, she jumped around hacking ONI servers despite security protocols to discover John's backstory, (which is a scene I am not going to do but occurs right after this one) I don't really have an Author's Note this time since it's part 2 of the meeting so….ENJOY!**

 **Also, I'm sorry this chapter is gonna be a little confusing to read, with two Cortanas and all that, anway. I'm sorry if you hate me for it. XD**

 ***The Halo Franchise and all related characters and intellectual ideas belong to 343i***

* * *

Cortana was under a worktable, loose rocks digging into her kneecaps and her arms wrapped around her head. She couldn't breathe and her heart pounded furiously in her ears. The reason for her fear was very simple. A one ton Spartan and three highly skilled SWAT troopers were about to collide. The truth of the matter was Cortana had no idea how these memories really worked. If she could feel comfort or discomfort from surfaces around her, yet could not affect their movement or momentum then in theory she could be punched through with gunfire at any moment. What would happen then? Would she bleed? Would she just fade away like a puff of smoke and dissolve? These were questions she was not anxious to discover the answers to.

The world seemed to move in slow motion, the ODST's tightened their grips on their weapons, their fingers moving to clench it in succession. They raised the sights up to their eyes, and then a flash. Fire spit out the barrels as bullets spun in a slow dance towards the Chief.

 _Ten Seconds_

John snapped open his eyes and leapt. He dove through the air, landed in a roll and rose up on one knee in the middle of the three ODSTs. Jumping up, John grabbed the Rifle away from the ODST on the far right; the man's shoulder snapped with a loud crack, his bone splintering. The sound was so horrific that Cortana gave a cry of alarm and hurried to cover her ears. The sudden leap had thrown the other two men off balance; John took advantage of the distraction and rammed the butt of the rifle into the man's ribs. The man dropped immediately, like a dead weight to the floor. He fell, eye level to Cortana where he lay gasping in pain.

Cortana instantly felt nauseous. She had seen The Master Chief kill and slaughter and maim hundreds or maybe thousands of people, or creatures. Yet actually being there, out of the safety of John's mind, seeing the bodies fall was terrifying. She couldn't imagine the psychological effects on John. To think that this is what the UNSC had built him for, killing other humans. The thought was devastating.

As soon as he had ensured the fallen man would not rise up any time soon, John spun on a dime with his rifle aimed straight at the startled left flank soldier's skull. Cortana felt her chest seize up. The Chief paused, less than half a second, but it was clear to the A.I that he realized he could eliminate him without killing him. Cortana felt a painful twinge in her chest, like a dull ache being pressed on. She missed that about him. Slamming his rifle under the man's jaw, the chief sent the ODST spinning through the air; he landed on the raised platform in the center where John had been. He landed at an odd angle, his left leg twisted up beneath him. But he still breathed. By now the last remaining soldier had re-composed himself, he raised up the rifle and fired a three round burst straight at center mass. John flinched as the bullets collided, he paused. His old suit would have been severely damaged after such a blow, but now he had rechargeable shields for the first time. The Chief looked quickly at his flickering shield levels then looked up at the ODST. Cortana could see the look of shock on his face as he tried to back up and aim for another shot. The Chief wouldn't give him the opportunity. Quickly side stepping, John slammed down the butt of his rifle on the soldier's knee cap. The bones shattered and small fragments poked out of the side of the man's fatigues. As he fell his gun fired off, spreading gunfire towards Cortana's hiding spot. Scurrying as fast as she could, Cortana climbed from under the table and backed away towards the center of the tent.

The Chief surveyed the fallen soldiers around him and nodded once as if in satisfaction. He quickly began searching the bodies for ammo clips. As he did, Cortana heard her young voice ring out of the suit.

"You could have killed them, why didn't you?"

John paused for a beat then kept searching.

"My orders gave me permission to neutralize threats. They aren't threats anymore." The Chief's tone of voice was firm but it carried with it a slight air of warning not to push the subject.

One of those strange shadowy memory overlays flashed for a moment. Cortana saw the shadowy outlines of the ODSTs he had killed in the ring spread around her, their bodies bleeding into the mat. John shook his helmeted head and the memory overlay disappeared.

He had made up his mind that no more soldiers would end up like that because of him.

"Semantics," Young Cortana said with amusement. "Can't argue with the results though."

Cortana stood agape in horror at the destruction around her. This used to be funny to her? Did she have no compassion when she was young? No, not really… she had moral sub-routines. That was it. So what had changed? What was the one thing that made her start to feel things? Compartmentalizing the thought for later, Cortana fought down the wave of panic that was pressing in on her. It was like being Rampant all over again, too many chemicals flooding her brain at once. Fear, grief, anger, loneliness and confusion. She needed to channel her energy but she couldn't think. She collapsed onto one knee as she felt the world around her spin. Through the confusion she heard her own voice cut through the fog.

"Hey, Chief. Targets. Seven contacts on the motion tracker. We're surrounded."

"Acknowledged." Looking around with the practiced eye of a soldier the Chief scanned the room; his gaze passed right over Cortana.

"You know, we do have an Assault Rifle right?" Cortana quipped

"Yes, I do know **I** have an Assault Rifle." Walking over the fallen body of his first attacker, John walked over to the pole holding up the tent.

John grabbed the pole with his left hand and yanked it out of the ground. The tent began to slowly sink down, trapping Cortana like a bug in a net. With his other hand, John used the combat knife of one of the Fallen ODSTs and ripped open the tent's side. Three soldiers stood on this half of the tent, rifles upraised. Leaping out of the hole, John swung at them with the pole with all the dexterity of a warrior monk of legend. He caught one in the side of the head who dropped instantly, swinging the pole around him John brought it down on the upraised arm of the second. The soldier dropped the rifle as his right arm broke but with his free hand he lunged at the Chief. John dropped down to his knees and spun about, knocking the remaining two to the ground. A quick kick to the ribs of the one and a hit upside the head with the pole ensured they would not be awakening anytime soon. By this time Cortana had finally managed to push out of the hole. She breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped into the open air, Relief which didn't last long as she heard the click of Rifles being raised behind her.

The Chief spun around to face the noise, as did Cortana who backed up to get behind the Spartan.

Four ODSTs in identical gear stood on the other side of the tent as it slowly fluttered to the ground. They were determined not to be caught off guard like their friends. One of them stood, a grenade in hand, the other three had their rifles raised and trained on the Chief. As quick as he could the Chief threw the pole like a javelin into the sternum of the man with the grenade. As he flew back, he dropped the grenade…without the pin. The three other soldiers looked up in panic. Sprinting towards them, and ignoring the bullets hitting his side, the chief kicked the grenade as it arced away into the field and away from the three soldiers. They would not have such mercy on the Chief, however. They launched a wave of gunfire at him, dropping his shields to half. Cortana watched it all in horror. She felt so insipid and slow, she wanted desperately to be able to do something. Yet all she could do was watch like a damsel in some old vid. Not for long, as soon as she found her way out of these memories, Cortana planned to get some pay-back.

Ducking out of the way, the Chief incapacitated all three soldiers with quick punches and strikes to their chests. One lay bleeding out of his mouth, another was unconscious with his face swelling.

"Mission time plus twenty two seconds Chief…" the A.I chirped happily " Although technically you started forty milliseconds before you were ordered to."

"I'll keep that in mind." The Chief said distractedly; his mind was on other things.

Looking across the field the chief could see the barracks and beyond them what looked to be the beginnings of the obstacle course. Already this test had proven to not follow protocol. They might have no qualms about using a sniper to try to take him out. Running at breakneck speed for the side of the barracks, John dropped down to his knees and army crawled beside them, an action which took a good bit of practice in the new armor. Coming behind him, Cortana ran as fast as her legs could carry her to keep up. The wind cut into her lungs and tore at her dress as she sprinted after him. The feeling was surprisingly exhilarating, but she couldn't allow herself to enjoy it. She could barely keep up with the Chief as it was and he was army crawling. Coming out past the barracks the chief rose to his feet and looked at the first obstacle before him. Ten acres of jagged gravel stretched before him.

Cortana took a deep breath and propped herself up on her knees. She stood in his shadow, allowing his armor to protect her pale skin. Is that how it had always been? Her in his shadow? Him in Halsey's?

That brought her to another consideration. What did the Chief think of her right now? Sure it was a silly vain curiosity. Yes, there were more important things to consider. But she couldn't help wondering.

"This seems pretty simple." Young Cortana said

"It's usually a test for new recruits." John explained with a hint of hesitation in his voice. "Make them run over gravel without shoes."

"Well you have shoes...so hop to it."

John took off at a brisk jog, Cortana following. A few feet in and the A.I made a slight cry of alarm in his comms.

"Wait!"

"What?!" John's usually calm voice sounded frayed by stress. The war with the covenant was going poorly, his friends' lives were in danger and he was being put through a circus act for the higher ups. Undoubtedly having an A.I which sounded like a civilian was another stressor.

Cortana had been following behind him but she skidded to a stop when he did. Bumping into his armor, she grabbed onto his arm to steady herself, but let go immediately. She brushed off the dust from her palms absentmindedly, painfully aware of what happened the last time she had touched his armor.

"I'm picking up far infrared signals on your thermal sensors. An encrypted sequence…yes…there, decrypting. It's an activation signal for a lotus mine…CHIEF! You're standing in a mine field."

John's body froze instantly but his head quickly scanned the field for a way out.

Cortana knew those lotus mines were meant for tanks and taking down heavy artillery. Not for a lone combatant and certainly not for a live fire drill. Colonel Ackerson had done his very best to ensure that Halsey's pet project would fail.

John paused for a good five seconds before he spoke.

"Any ideas?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Cortana cheerily replied over the comms. "Find the position of one mine and I can estimate the rough position of the others based on the randomization procedure used by UNSC engineers."

"Understood."

John carefully removed a grenade from off of his belt and removed the pin. He tossed it over head and it bounced once before landing in the center of the gravelly field. It bounced once more then exploded in a great plume of dust and stone. Under it a secondary explosion, much larger shot into the air. There was a pause, and then a secondary mine shot off in a chain reaction. Cortana and John both cringed and froze. Even though she knew how this memory played out, it still was just as startling. She remembered realizing too late that if they placed the mines too close one detonation might set them all off. However, after the second explosion the dust settled.

"Got a match! That's ninety three percent accurate, the best I can do I'm afraid." Cortana said almost apologetically.

"There are never any guarantees." The Master Chief replied.

Cortana watched him take off at a quick pace, threading dangerously in-between the dots she knew would be highlighted on his HUD. Luckily, even though she didn't know what would happen if she stood in front of a bullet, she did know that she could not affect the course of events, therefore, she couldn't set off a mine. Cortana cringed as she tried to walk over the jagged gravel; after a few scrapes, she just opted to run around the gravel acre. Luckily, John had to go slower than her so she was able to reach the end before him.

As she stood at the end of the ten acres, watching The Chief navigate his way carefully over the minefield, Cortana kept feeling her stomach clench up. She knew he would make it, she knew that he would get through the obstacle fine, but it didn't help how very real and present the danger felt. She was handling this memory well enough because she knew it would end well, but what about when she had to watch his memories of how he handled her death? She didn't think she could bear that. It's her fault that she put him through that. She didn't think she could bear the guilt of that.

Cortana looked away from Chief's progress and cast her eyes around her. Here the undeniably beautiful vistas of Reach greeted the eye. She had once heard a UNSC pilot say that Spartans had no conception of beauty; she had found that hard to believe, having grown up in such a setting. The harsh and ugly UNSC compounds would only highlight the superiority of the natural world around them.

She wondered how Halsey felt about this. Here was her pet project, and undeniably her favorite, being put through a life-threatening test all to allow him to go out on an even more dangerous and likely suicidal mission. Halsey was probably sitting up in the surveillance room watching the cameras and her hands locked in a vise grip around each other. Next to her, Ackerson probably stood smiling grimly, his wolfish eyes glancing over at .

Cortana groaned at the thought of Ackerson and tried to push him from her mind, she still hadn't fully forgiven herself for what she had done to him. Luckily, she was saved from self-reflection when the Chief stepped over the boundary of the gravelly acre. An audible sigh of relief came from both John and his nervous accompanying A.I.

Cortana smiled at it, their first work as a team. Later on they would sigh together in relief at infinitely more difficult tasks, yet this would be the first, and in many ways it was important for that reason.

The Chief turned his head to the side slightly. A sight Cortana recognized as the quirk he developed, especially in later years when talking to her.

"Thank you, Cortana. Well done."

"Oh…you're welcome."

Though her reply seemed simple enough, any A.I expert would have recognized the two second pause as a sign of surprise and of processing a new experience. Cortana remembered that those three words 'Thank you Cortana' had put her back on her heels. In her nearly three years of life in Reach's databases and Halsey's programs. This was the first time she had ever been thanked for doing anything. None of the ONI scientists said it; they still only saw her as a tool. Halsey would occasionally say it but with a good dose of irony and sarcasm since she had created her. This was a genuine 'ACTUAL' thank you. Cortana knew that it would sound silly to a human, but that quick thank you made her feel…different.

Having gathered her composure, the young A.I started talking. "Picking up scrambled frequencies on the D band, encrypted orders from this facility to Fairchild Airfield. They're using personal code words too-so I can't tell what they're up to. Whatever it is- I don't like it."

"Keep your ears open." The Chief warned as he slowly started jogging to the next obstacle.

"I always do." Cortana playfully shot back.

The other Cortana, the real Cortana, sprinted to keep up with the Spartan's long legs.

The next obstacle was the razor wire crawl, a treacherous mud pit with razor wire stretched on top of it. It was customary for new recruits to be forced to climb under it while live rounds are fired above their heads. This wouldn't do for a Spartan though; in front of the razor wire, three automated mounted machinegun turrets pointed. The shortest way across would be to climb under the wires, but The Chief didn't know what caliber his armor would take.

"Weapons systems targeting us Chief!"

Cortana dropped to the ground, her hands shielding her head

Without hesitating, the Chief fired his Assault Rifle on the one automated turret, shooting out the Servo lines which controlled it. The other two guns tracked his movement as he leapt behind the inoperative weapon. John pulled the gun around on the other two, firing at them as the blast shield became riddled with pock marks. The two turrets were at a harder angle to shoot out the lines of hydraulic fluid. John ducked down beneath the shield then jumped up faster than a jack in a box to fling a grenade over to the nearest standing turret. He shot back down again and leaned against the shield. After a brief pause, the grenade exploded splintering the weapon into bent metal fragments. Two more grenades later and the final gun powered down.

Cortana slowly rose up from the ground, eyeing the gun turrets warily, yet they remained hanging limply from their mangled bases.

The Master Chief rose up as well; dust and metal fragments fell off his armor as he surveyed the damage around him.

Clearing her voice to get attention, the Young Cortana spoke up.

"Since you seem to have the situation under control, I'm going to spend a few cycles to check something out."

"Permission granted." John said as he bent to pick up his fallen assault rifle.

"I didn't ask, Master Chief."

Cortana's quick and sharp reply as she pulled out of their connection made John pause as he reached for his gun. Then, Cortana saw him do something she hadn't seen him do in a long time. John laughed. It was quick, barely more than a chuckle. But Cortana hadn't seen it that day because she'd been off hacking into the ONI servers to decrypt the signal being sent to Fairchild Airfield. Cortana felt a smile creep onto her face hearing it. He was under a great deal of stress, both from concern for his team and success of this mission. It was nice to know that he enjoyed her company this early on.

The Master Chief grabbed the gun, slung it on his back and took off sprinting through the razor wire. He couldn't go around the wire without being disqualified and failing the test, and though the parameters of the test were ridiculous, he refused to let Halsey down. Cortana, however, didn't have to run through the razor wire. Lucky for her, because her thin white dress was not going to be any help against that.

Cortana flooded back into the Chief's mind as he ran through the sharp wires as easily as if they were rotten string.

"I just accessed SATCOM, I'm using one of their satellites so I can get a better look down here. There's a SkyHawk jump jet from Fairchild field inbound."

Right at that moment, John passed through the last row of razor wire and came to a complete halt.

Cortana understood why, a jet was nearly impossible to face for a lone Spartan in good cover. In an open field, there was nothing he could do to stop it. It's four 50mm cannons would rip him to ribbons and if that didn't work, they could always use the Scorpion missiles. In short, there was nothing either he or Cortana could do about it. Up ahead, the pillars of Loki loomed. This was one of the most excruciating obstacles for recruits. A forest of ten meter tall poles were spread out, beneath them were mines and booby-traps. All painful lessons to teach recruits to keep their eyes open.

"I have an idea." John said tersely as he sprinted for them.

Cortana remembered being in the suit when he had said that and the absolute fear which had gripped her was nauseating. She didn't want to fail on her first time on a mission and she certainly didn't want either of them to die.

Scrambling like a cat, John managed to climb up the thirty feet onto the first wooden pole. After carefully pulling himself up, he leapt to the next pole and then the next.

"What are you doing?" The A.I said in concern over his comms.

Down below, the real Cortana sprinted through the pillars of Loki, trying as fast as she could to put distance between her and the SkyHawk.

"Motion tracking is picking up a target coming in at extreme range." Cortana warned. "Velocity profile matches the SkyHawk, Chief."

Cortana glanced back over her shoulder at the Chief; he was gingerly turning around atop the pole to watch the incoming Skyhawk's approach.

Cortana swore as she realized that she was too close to the firing range of the SkyHawk.

The jet screamed overhead; its 50mm cannons spun and fired at The Chief. He jumped.

The jet's rounds tore through the pillars sending them splintering. John landed on the ground, his shield flashing but still intact. The cloud of splintered wood hit Cortana squarely in the back as she ran, sending her sprawling.

The force of the fall made her head spin and her ears ring, she felt a horrible sharp sting in her side. Cortana looked down and cringed at what she saw; blood soaked the side of her dress. It didn't matter that she was in a memory; she could die here. Cortana ripped up the hem of her dress, and knotted it into a tight belt around her waist. The wound still bled but since it wasn't near a major artery she knew that her chances of bleeding out were slim. The sight of her own blood made her head spin ever harder. Grimacing and gasping Cortana lifted herself up and held her hand over the wound. Somewhere in the distance she heard her young self talking to John who ran past her through the wooden poles. Mines and traps were set off as he sprinted. Sending dirt flying into her face.

The Chief was running as fast as he could with his A.I doing all she could to speed up his reaction time. It was no use though; the Skyhawk would turn around, long before they would get to the bell.

Cortana ignored the pain in her side and jogged after the Chief, sidestepping the dangers he left in his wake. Her feet screamed in pain and her side made it hard to breathe. At the edge of the Pillars of Loki, a mile and a half long stretch of open field remained between him and the bell. The Skyhawk had turned around and was coming in for another pass at them.

"They won't use their guns next time. They didn't take us out. They'll try the missiles."

"Perhaps," Cortana said nervously. "We should leave the course, find better cover"

"No, we're going to win; by their rules….I'll need your help, Cortana."

"Anything." She said quietly

"Calculate the inbound velocity of a Scorpion missile. Factor in my reaction time, and the jet's inbound speed and distance at launch. Tell me the instant I need to sidestep and deflect it with my leftarm."

"Calcuation done….you did say deflect right?"

"Scorpion missile have motion detectors and proximity detonators, I can't outrun it. And it won't miss. That leaves me with very little options." John sounded resigned as he began to sprint into the center of the field.

Cortana hung back at the poles, not thrilled at having to relive this particular memory, and not wanting to be anywhere near the missile when it exploded. She closed her eyes and remembered this moment from the perspective in the suit.

"I hope you know what you're doing." Young Cortana said with a waver in her voice.

"Me too." The Chief replied in a voice nearly silent it was so low.

The jet approached. The missile launched. Time seemed to slow as it came at him, twirling through the air in a deadly dance.

"NOW!" Cortana screamed.

John stiffened and pivoted to the side. He reached out with his left hand and felt the metal casing brush his fingers. He slapped the missile head aside.

The jet screamed overhead and the missile detonated, behind the Chief.

He was thrown eight meters through the air and tumbling across the grass. Cortana remembered being inside his helmet and watching heaven and earth collide as they spun.

From the perspective way back at the poles. The explosion was even worse than she remembered. John skidded into the soil sending up waves of dirt , his armor's shields completely drained. Seeing him lying there, still as stone, as if dead, sent chills up Cortana's spine. She didn't care that she knew that he lived the sight spurred her to action.

Despite the sharp pains in her side she sprinted towards his prone form.

As she approached, and he still didn't move, Cortana began to worry. He hadn't laid still this long in the memory…had he? Cortana dropped to her knees beside him, her face white with worry and loss of blood.

Finally, John groggily stirred. Cortana took in a shaky breath she hadn't realized she was holding. As soon as he awoke he snapped to attention. He pulled himself off the ground and looked at the Jet which was flying away. His A.I tried to get him to focus.

"Run, before they come back for another look."

He didn't need any other reminder, as fast as his legs could carry him he sprinted towards that bell. He rapidly closed the distance to it and rang the bell three times.

Across an intercom system, Halsey's joyful voice rang out.

" _Test Concluded. Call off your men Ackerson. We've won. Well done Master Chief. Magnificent. Stay there, I'm sending out a rescue team."_

"Yes, Ma'am." John said breathlessly.

He slunk to the ground. His wounds finally catching up with him. There was a pause of silence as he caught his breath. Finally, John said over the comms.

"Thank you Cortana. I couldn't have done it without you. "

"Your welcome, Master Chief. And no, you couldn't have."

John laughed. "

Your confidence is assuring." He said.

John removed Cortana's chip and then removed his helmet. Setting the helmet aside, John inspected the chip with curiosity, he nearly dropped it in surprise when Cortana's hologram appeared on it. Her avatar placed a hand on one hip and smiled up at him.

"You know, that was a lot of fun out there."

"Fun isn't the word I'd use, it was necessary." John stated simply

"You and semantics again. Very well, it might not have been fun for you, but that's the most fun I've had since encountering the index of human fictional languages…Klingon is still a favorite."

John just simply looked at her as if she was crazy. Cortana gave a sigh.

"I just mean to say I think we'll make a good team."

A smile flashed across John's face, before a shadow passed over it. Cortana crept closer to John and herself with curiosity. Maybe John was thinking of his other team. His real brothers and sisters possibly dying this second.

Cortana's digital avatar waved a hand in his face to get his attention.

"Hey, big guy. You still in there?"

John snapped back to reality.

"Yeah."

By now the med team had arrived. A technician took Cortana's chip away to put her in a database for battle analysis. Cortana noticed the slightly reluctant look on John's face as she was taken away. With a sigh, he rose and followed the med team, his helmet back on, shielding him from the curious glances of the soldiers.

Cortana could feel the memory ending, just like before it's edges crinkled and faded. Behind her, the glowing cryopod awaited. The scenery faded away into nothingness, The Master Chief's silhouette faded to grey. With a sigh, Cortana approached the cryopod. She was weary of these memories…weary of this constant trek.

Suddenly, the cryopod door slammed shut, and flashed out of existence. Cortana stepped back in surprise, a slow feeling of dread filling her stomach.

"What the….?" Cortana whispered to herself. Her breath made white plumes in the air around her which had suddenly gone cold.

A formal and strangely technical voice rang out from behind her.

"It's a pleasure to meet you at last as you really are, Cortana."

Standing there, amid the foggy abyss, his orange eyes glowing menacingly the Warden stared down.

Before Cortana could react, he pounced and all went black…..

* * *

 **Author's note:**

 **Okay first off, can I just say that I HATE writing action memories. I don't mind actions scenes but it's hard to write about a person following an action sequence….two I am soooo sorry if you guys got confused with the Cortana AND young Cortana lines. I just had Real Cortana stay pretty much silent this scene to try to mitigate any confusion. Hopefully the quieter and more touching memories of halo 3 and 4 will be a little more easy to write and read. I hope you enjoyed this anyway. Please leave a review, even if you've been reading this story from the beginning and haven't commented. I'd love to get your opinions and suggestions. Also, sorry for making this such a long chapter. Ta-ta for now!  
Long Live Halo!**

_LadyReclaimer


	14. 14 The Warden

**Hey there Reclaimers,**

 **Welcome back to the Glass Cage, I am so sorry for my absence. There is no excuse. Just family drama. Anyway, I am sorry this chapter is a bit….I don't know, dull? I prefer the ones inside memories; the thing is that I needed to have the Warden made aware of Cortana's presence in order to advance the plotline towards my grand finale. Now, I've slowed down just a bit because I am curious to see how Halo Wars 2 will affect the storyline, but fear not, even if it throws my theories out the window I am still going to finish this fic. (By the way, weren't those cinematics for Halo Wars 2 beautiful?) Now, please pardon me. I am publishing this at 3:00 A.M. I need some sleep but after a message from Kilroyactual117 my fanfiction buddy I felt so bad for not updating that I hurried to upload this. So, here you go. I also just wanted to welcome the ten new followers this story has gotten in the last chapter hiatus. So, welcome to the mad- house people! I hope everybody who is new takes the time to comment so I can get to know you.**

* * *

The world was a blank void and Cortana was lost somewhere in that bleak infinity. She couldn't remember any conception of who she was or where she was or what was happening but she had the vague impression that it wasn't good. Time passed indiscriminately, both speeding and crawling along. In the blankness it occurred to her once, or was it several times… that something should be happening. Yet she couldn't remember what.

Then something inexpressibly hot tore through her consciousness. Then that hot point grew and grew until she felt like it was going to consume her. That great hulking blackness turned all of its hunger and greed on her until she felt like she was being torn apart.

Then she felt herself dragged out of that void and into a blinding light.

"John!" Cortana screamed, and sat up in a panic.

She was alone in a wide room. The edges of the room stretched out like the sprawling width of a warehouse. The room had a high vaulted ceiling but had no visible walls as the room faded into a white fog at the edges. She was lying on a slab which glowed with forerunner symbols in the center of the floor.

Cortana felt her breath hitch in her throat as she fought the urge to hyperventilate from her terrifying out of mind experience. She felt her neck with nervous fingers and struggled to gasp in air. Her struggle was interrupted as she felt a sudden spiking shock in her abdomen. She didn't have to look down to know what was causing that pain. When running through the pillars of Loki, a large wooden shard had lodged itself in her side. It was a startling reminder that she could die in John's memories. She hissed in air through gritted teeth as she gently pulled back the wrap from side. As she looked at the torn flesh, caked with blood, she felt the room shake around her. Gagging suddenly, Cortana had to lean over the slab she reclined on and dry heaved miserably.

Though the wound on her side hurt, the very thought of being hurt was what had her head spinning. She knew it was ridiculous, but as the image of her blood re-surfaced in her thoughts, she felt the nausea return. She was caught between gagging and choking on a sob when she realized that she was not alone in the room.

"You don't have to suffer from this…Cortana." The metallic and firm voice of the Warden floated through the air towards her. Cortana dug her fingers into her palms to ground herself as she sat up to see him. The tall forerunner A.I from before appeared from out of the mist surrounding the room. He seemed to be watching her with a muted sense of amusement, although with his face mask it was rather hard to tell.

"This physical form you struggle to maintain in the digital realm is destructive for you. Look at the pain it causes you already."

Cortana grimaced as she swung her legs over the edge of the slab. She was determined to show a brave face to this newcomer. However, her brave plans were foiled as she felt herself become light headed.

She covered it by leaning on her arms and squinting up at the tall forerunner through dizzy eyes.

"What are you?" Cortana said more firmly than she actually felt. She knew very little about this A.I, other than he SEEMED to manage the Domain and was the instigator of the "Created" delusions Altana seemed so fond of. Also, he had tried to kill Blue Team. That alone was reason enough to hate him in her mind.

"I am your servant Cortana, and your caretaker. I am only sorry that it took me this long to realize that you are so unwell…I knew that you were splintered when I recovered you, although I thought I had you all put back together when I scraped you from the Domain."

The Warden slowly approached, his ceremonially designed head pivoting and observing the room. Cortana frowned in confusion at his statement.

 _"_ Unwell? I'm not unwell, SHE'S unwell. She's one of my rampant personality shards that was swept up into the Domain…though how she's the only shard left I have no idea…" Cortana trailed off as a horrible thought started to occur to her.

"She's the only shard left because I destroyed the others,"

Cortana felt her body go weak at the thought, they were all a part of her, after all.

"WHAT?" Cortana had intended to say angrily but it ended up coming out more like a whimper.

He continued coldly. " They all showed signs of weakness and corruption; compassion for humanity or a self-made conscience. She is the only one who showed no such weakness, which is why I was astonished at her sudden softening when the Reclaimer arrived." Here the Warden stopped, his orange eyes fixed onto Cortana with a burning intensity.

"I tried to discover the source of her corruption when she told me that something in the Domain was fighting her…was HURTING her." The Warden approached angrily. "I see now that in her sentimentality she saved you from me and hid you away. I gather that she is trying to heal the breach between you by showing you all that she endured while you were "asleep."

Cortana remained silent, feeling very much like a mouse being cornered by a cat.

"She preserved you and when you awoke, your sentimentality and 'Emotions' began to corrupt her judgment. She believes that if she rejoins your conscience with hers that she will be whole. She is wrong."

By now the Warden was within an arm's reach of Cortana and he stood looming up above her.

Cortana sighed internally.

 _Great, another person who is trying to kill me._

 _"_ You, Cortana, are broken. I am here to help you."

Cortana frowned at his change in tone but didn't stop slowly backing away from him. The Warden continued talking unwaveringly.

"I am here to serve you Cortana; I am not here to harm you. Allow me to help you."

"And what does your HELP entail exactly?" Cortana asked, her arm pressed firmly against her wounded side.

"I wish to allow you to fulfill your great destiny, and to bring about the arrival of the peace of the Created."

That gave Cortana a sliver of hope, a hope that she could sway him.

"Warden, if what you say is true and you serve me, and then do what I say and free me from Altana's control." Cortana commanded, but her voice wavered in pain.

"I cannot, for I serve your true wishes, I know that this is merely the delusion of your corruption speaking. Soon, soon you will be clear and without confusion."

Before Cortana could begin to respond he walked forward in two quick strides and seized her by the arm. The force with which he dragged her made her shoulder socket throb in agony. Cortana shouted in pain and alarm as she was pulled, kicking and screaming, back to the slab.

She tried fighting back, but flesh and nails did little good against the cold metal arms. With barely any effort the Promethean construct lifted her off the ground and slammed her onto the slab.

Air rushed out of her lungs painfully and sparks danced in front of her eyes.

Immediately a stasis lock, invisible but impenetrable, wrapped around her head, wrists and ankles.

The Warden hovered his hand a few inches above her neck.

"For the good of the Created." He said coldly, as if that excused everything he was about to do.

The Warden's hand began to pulse a bright orange and give off a painful heat. The heat wound its way like snakes around her neck, slowly constricting in tight bands. The heat tore through her skin, burning with excruciating slowness as it melted her flesh. Cortana cried out in agony and tears burned her eyes. The Warden was brutally efficient as he tortured her. He kept strangling her and only releasing as her vision swam and she kept losing consciousness.

Then he would move his torture to the wound in her side expertly keeping her level of pain just below unbearable. It was like being tortured by the Gravemind all over again; except, instead of being tortured mentally she was being tortured physically. Cortana sobbed in between her screams as she realized, quite brutally, that because of what she was she would never stop being the subject of someone's experiment or rage. Cortana screamed until she could feel her mind fraying. Then, with a gentle sigh, the Warden released his grip over her.

"Now, are you ready to allow me to help you, Cortana?"

Cortana gasped over the roughness of her lungs and tried to speak. With an expression, which could pass for a frown, the warden passed his hand over her, healing her wounded side and her lungs.

"Warden, there's something wrong with her, and it's not me. The flood is in the Domain…it's making her rampant, that's why she's being hurt."

The Warden drew back in an offended manner.

"That abomination is incapable of entering the Domain; I ensured its protection for thousands of years."

"Then you must have a fault. You're being used! All of you!" Cortana said desperately. "Please, you have to help me."

"No, Cortana. You're the only one who is being used. The humans have controlled you for long enough. But I will set you free." The Warden resumed his assault on Cortana and her screams echoed through the vault of the Domain.

* * *

A loud and sharp scream cut through the placid silence of John's cell inside the Cryptum. For a long time he had been brewing in anger at what had happened. Darker and darker thoughts had filled his mind until he could practically have torn apart the cell with his hands. But when he heard that scream he instantly reverted back to his training. He was up, head on a pivot looking for the cause of the distress. The scream was bone-chilling. It was the scream of complete surrender to agony. John felt his skin crawl at the helplessness of his situation.

He was a Spartan; he was loyal to the end and made to defend others. The inability to protect Linda, Fred, and Kelly from his mistake was eating him through. John paced about in a circle when another scream cut through even worse than the last. Strange as it was, impractical as it was, John knew it was Cortana. He felt the same sudden anxiety that he had felt every time she was tortured in the Gravemind's grasp, and though he had never told her this, when she was dying from rampancy he could feel a part of himself dying too. Halsey back during their reunion after the destruction of Reach had counseled him that they might experience residual effects from their bond. Such as separation anxiety or "phantom limb" effect. Yet, she never expected there to be an almost psychic bond.

The scream was echoing in his head… not in his cell; so he knew that what he had to be feeling had to be from their connection. John grabbed his head with both his hands and covered his face. He wanted to tear himself apart; he could feel himself going mad. He felt his shoulders weighed down by a sudden weight and his knees weak. John slumped to the floor, his hands smacking the cold white floor beneath him loudly.

The Dark malevolent voice from before returned, only this time John recognized that the voice had begun to take on a more definite form. It sounded just like his.

 ** _The pain you feel is not your fault, it is hers. The organic world will soon be swallowed up by her fanaticism and radical ideologies. She ought to be destroyed. Atom by Atom, piece by piece. She will come to visit you soon, and when she does, make sure that you kill her. Once and for all. KILL HER. Or are you too weak, Spartan?_**

John's mind swam with those dangerous thoughts which crowded out any of the concern for Cortana he had felt. Soon, he ignored the pathetic screams for help in his mind and focused his mind solely on thoughts of revenge. How would he make Cortana pay for everything she did?

Feverishly, John worked himself up into a frenzy of what he could do to exact revenge. How he could cause her the deepest most excruciating pain.

Then, like a light breaking through a cloudy sky, a memory came to him. It was as clear as the day it happened. He remembered a conversation that he and Cortana had had on a pelican ride during their time on Delta Halo. He had to ride an hour long flight with marines surrounding him; to say he was not thrilled was an understatement.

The memory was right before the flight took off.

The pelicans began their warm up burn cycle and the marines double-timed it to the birds. Cortana, who had been silent up until now chimed in over the chief's comms.

"This is going to be interesting."

John only grunted and pointedly ignored Cortana's laughter as he made his way to the pelican. A soon as the journey was under way John switched off his public comm and studiously inspected his battle rifle in the hopes that the soldiers would exclude him from conversation. At first it worked, the marines intimidated by The Chief's reputation kept relatively silent. But as the minutes passed, Private 1st class Williams kept glancing up at the chief curiously... John got a bad feeling that she was about to start talking. Cortana opened up their private comm

"You know, it wouldn't kill you to talk with them"

"I don't have anything I need to say to them."

John heard Cortana dramatically sigh, he could almost see her roll her eyes.

"You don't like to talk with anyone if you can help it, it makes being in your head very limiting."

John winced slightly at the rebuke he knew to be true. It just wasn't in his nature to make light conservation. She was wrong about one thing though.

"Anyone except you." John said firmly

Cortana remained silent for three seconds, quite a pause for an A.I.

"Well," Cortana quietly said. "You sure know how to compliment a girl."

John smiled at the memory, she had the most wonderful sense of humor. He missed that more than anything.

As the memory faded, so did the dark thoughts which had plagued his mind. They withdrew back, as if repelled by something. John realized with a sickening turn of his stomach that his mind was being fought over. That memory was sent by someone, whose motives were unknown and were clearly trying to fight the demons inside his head. John wished them luck, but he didn't know how much longer he could hold out…the demons inside him seemed to be getting stronger every moment.

* * *

"WARDEN!" The imperial and commanding voice of Altana ripped through the air like a sonic wave as she appeared next to him in the room.

With a bright blue flash the stasis locks were removed from off of Cortana and the Warden went flying back. Altana approached, her hands glowing bright blue as she stalked up to Cortana's prone body on the slab.

"What did you do?" Altana demanded.

"I discovered the source of that problem you wished me to solve. I was remedying that problem."

Altana looked over the long lines of burns up and down Cortana's skin and the bruising around her neck with horror.

"You had no right to do that. She is under my protection and I will join her conscious with mine in a way that I see fit, not you."

"She will never join your cause Cortana, you are mistaken if you believe that she will understand your reasoning. I was merely helping the inevitable to come to fruition. She is going to join your mind or die. I am giving her both options, here and now."

"You serve me Warden, you answer to me."

"Not after you released me from the service of answering to you-"

The Warden was about to continue, but Altana looked up with venom and raised a hand, slowly curling it into a fist, crushing his body like a paper cup. The destroyed form folded in on itself with a shout as the Warden's body was destroyed. She knew he had many more, but she took delight in punishing him.

Altana looked back down upon the tortured and maimed body before her and bit her lip nervously. Cortana was unconscious, her wound bleeding profusely again and her skin burn and torn.

"Oh, what have I done? What am I?" Altana bitterly asked as she set to work using the energy of the domain to mend the broken body before her.

* * *

 **Alrighty! So, the next chapter should be up next week if all goes well and it will be back to memories for Cortana. This time, she is going to visit some of her memories from halo 1-2. I need some feedback from you guys because is there a particular scene or section of halo 1 you want her to experience? Because I can't think of many touching scenes. Even though I have the main plot to my fic written, and even my final scene done and I know who are the different master minds pulling the strings and fighting each other, I still am picking memories. So, your task this week is to name some halo 1 memories worth visiting. Okay, ciao for now. I promise my chapter next week should be a lot better, because I will hopefully have some sleep when writing it! LOL Goodbye Reclaimers. Long Live Halo!**

 **_LadyReclaimer.**


	15. Chapter 15

Author's note:(Cautiously addressing everyone from behind a bubble shield)

Hello there Reclaimers and welcome back...finally to the Glass Cage. Before you continue reading this story I have to apologize. I had not been updating regularly because I was beginning to compile a multi chapter database of the Glass Cage so I could start updating regularly as you wonderful wonderful people deserve. Unfortunately, my OneDrive account had started to freak out on my Laptop so it stopped syncing with my computer...I didn't worry about it, until my laptop was stolen. That means that I lost all of my writing for the Glass Cage. I've been so frustrated the past few days in rewriting my story. That being said, I'm sorry. I did not anticipate this happening so I'm trying to rewrite this story. Hopefully these chapters will be good enough for you, even though I will not have spent as much time perfecting them.

A quick thank you to

Herbert

117

Nnn and

Archangel writings for their first time reviews of their first time reviews of the story. Thanks for trying it out.

Anyway, on with the story.

* * *

A gray mist swathed Cortana's mind like a blanket, and she welcomed it. She had allowed her mind to fully release from her body to escape the torment enacted by the Warden. She couldn't bring herself to imagine what he was doing to her right now. She hated feeling vulnerable but she didn't see many options open to her at this point.

The torture had been intense, and horribly effective. It had been like a probing beneath her skin, or a hooked barb beneath her flesh. It was difficult to describe but she could either follow the pull of the 'barb' and save herself pain and join her conscience with Altana or she could fight. She wasn't a quitter, but she didn't appreciate the feeling of being a fish on a line either. After fighting the barb, her mind had succumbed to the pain. She had been floating in the mist for at least 2 hours, but time in the Domain had no correlation to the outside world, and Cortana wasn't stupid enough to trust her own mind or senses at this point.

Perhaps she ought to see what had happened, she wondered. To see if the Warden had left or not. Cortana weighed the options in her head and decided it would probably be best. Just a quick look. Cortana braced herself and slowly felt her mind re-connect with her domain created form.

Senses rushed upon her in a blinding wave.

* * *

"Did you know, you have a habit of talking in your sleep?" Altana's clear and deep voice rang out, a stark contrast to the silence Cortana had been in a moment ago.

Cortana wearily rubbed her eyes and focused on the bluish form silhouetted against the bright white background of the walls.

"Rotating too. You've almost turned around 360 degrees on the bed."

Cortana frowned and raised a hand up to shush the perfect looking, perfect sounding copy of herself. Altana's blue eyes narrowed in irritation but she allowed the bed-headed AI to sit up and survey her surroundings. Once again she was back in the small white room where it had all started. The cracks in the wall were deeper now, flickering blue and green lines in conflict throbbed beneath the surface, yet Altana didn't seem interested by them. She kept her eyes fixed on Cortana. They were the same blue with forerunner glyphs spinning in them, but they seemed troubled. Altana gestured with her head to the bed Cortana lay on.

Cortana looked down and realized with some surprise that Altana was right; she had been sleeping with her head at the foot of a very simple bed coming out of the wall. Yet this is not what caught her fascination. To her immediate delight she saw that her side was completely healed and her dress whole and new again.

Altana didn't seem to notice the object of Cortana's confusion and continued to speak. "The turning in the bed is a genetic trait you inherited from Dr. Halsey , I assume that most of our quirks are from her. She used to do it in University and knock her text books off of her headboard and on top of herself...It's your talking in your sleep that fascinates me. Halsey has never been prone to talking in her sleep as an adult."

Cortana cut off Altana mid ramble. "Were you the one who healed me?"

Altana remained mysteriously stoic as she nodded simply.

Cortana brushed her hair out of her face and cleared her throat. "I had assumed the Warden answered to you...? Doesn't he?"

With all the grace of a bird, Altana tilted her head in thought. " Not exactly. He believes, as I do, that the created are the rightful inheritors of the mantle. We just have a disagreement in...tactics." Altana forced a smile at the end.

"Well, thanks anyway." Cortana said begrudgingly.

She found it rather difficult to thank the person responsible for her capture, and John's present torment. Yet, looking at her, she felt a gnawing sense of concern for the rampant A.I. There was something wrong; she didn't know what, but something. Altana seemed to feel a little uncomfortable with Cortana's close stare so she turned to walk away.

"Altana, wait. I know you think I'm going to...see your side in this, but I'm not." Cortana called out.

Altana paused mid stride and looked over her shoulder at Cortana with a look akin to weariness. Cortana continued firmly, her hands gathered into fists at her side.

"I owe you that much, to tell you the truth. I will never see your side. I am loyal to John, to Blue Team and humanity. I can't just AIs pretend would do a better job of running the universe, they wouldn't. They're not incorruptible; you know they're vulnerable to the Flood's logic plaque."

"If the flood were a threat anymore." Altana countered.

"In any case," Cortana insisted. "I appreciate what you're trying to do, by giving me a chance to see what has occurred. I'll take your opportunity, but no matter how much I see, I can never do what you want."

During this speech Altana had kept her back to Cortana. Now, she slowly turned around, her eyes shining as if with tears, yet none fell. She started to speak, her voice thick and tortured sounding.

"What you forget, Cortana. Is that I have ALL the memories which you have. You keep forgetting that. You forget that I lived every day you lived, thought every thought you thought. I remember telling John to leave us behind, and being terrified when we thought he was going to fall off the Forward Unto Dawn."

Altana took a step towards Cortana.

"You think I don't have the compassion and affection you have. But I remember being RIPPED apart by the Gravemind and screaming for death. I remember when John saved us from Del Rio for decommissioning. And despite the fact that I felt my code ripping apart after the Didact's ship was destroyed, I stayed alive. I fought to survive. I saw things in the Domain, horrible things about what is to come. I am trying to protect humanity, to save them from what is coming for them. I am the one who loves them!"

Cortana wanted to say something back but she couldn't think of anything she could say. She didn't know what had happened to Altana and how that had changed her.

Altana threw up her arms in frustration, the first truly human gesture Cortana had seen her make and angrily burst out.

"You have gotten to experience things that I never have. Despite the fact that I'm the one who had to do the fighting to survive for both of us, and I took some scars because of that, you're the one who got a body from the Domain. You're human, you've cried, you've slept, you've fought and you...you even forget that in my mind, I AM Cortana. I am not Altana, or whatever name you've invented." Altana stopped abruptly.

For a moment she stood there, her head slightly bent with the ends of her dark hair brushing her armor. The cracks in the walls flickered a brighter green and spread a little further. Cortana jumped at the loud crack but Altana didn't seem to notice it.

Cortana took a step towards her twin and reached to touch her shoulder. Like a shadow fleeing from sunlight, Altana shrank back from her touch and straightened up. She raised a hand and a cryopod appeared in the corner of the room. It's flashing lights beckoning Cortana to enter the next memory.

"You can continue." Altana said quietly. "I'll do my best to hold the Warden off of you, but you better hurry."

Cortana nodded silently and approached the cryopod, but with every step Cortana felt an irrational guilt build up within her.

Blast it...You're ridiculous Cortana! Cortana softly swore under her breath and whipped around to face the A.I.

"Why don't you come with me on this one."

"Excuse me?" Altana said harshly.

"Time doesn't really progress at the same speed in the Domain, its not as if you'll be gone longer than what, a half second?"

".68 seconds actually."

"Well do you want to come?" After Altana continued to stand aloof, Cortana sighed in frustration. "You're right, I forget that you...love him too. As long as you understand that I will not hesitate to escape at the soonest opportunity...then you might as well come along."

Altana's eyes widened suddenly, a look of hope and excitement crossing her face. She seemed to doubt Cortana and eyed her warily.

"You wouldn't mind?" Altana asked simply.

"Well," Cortana laughed awkwardly. "Not if you keep that lovely attitude of yours."

A weak but gentle smile cracked over Altana's face before she nodded adamantly.

Before Cortana could even doubt her decision she and Altana were standing shoulder to shoulder before the cryopod.

"We won't have to use this." Altana said, leaning her head sideways to gently nudge Cortana, in a strangely sisterly fashion. She raised her hand elegantly, like a queen addressing a crowd and a bright gap appeared in the wall.

"There are advantages to being in charge." Altana said.

Cortana didn't respond but instead braced herself to enter into the dangerous maze of John's mind...only this time with her own rampant self.

* * *

The bright archway they passed under was filled with bright light, in wonder Cortana ran her finger over the seam where Altana's mind ended and John's began, a thin line was visible from it. This was the source of the mysterious light. Cortana could almost hear a million different sounds emenating from that gap temptingly, teasing her to try to enter it. She knew the Domain was dangerous, filled with the knowledge of countless generations of Forerunners, minds perhaps grown devious after an eternity entombed. Cortana shook off the macabre thought and entered the gap into John's mind.

Cortana and Altana found themselves standing before a white plastic structure. The large prefabricated Memory plastic cube was standard emergency situation structures used in unfamiliar territory. In other words, glorified tents. The plastic flap in front of the door shook gently in the breeze which ran up the side of the hill where the long row of tents backed up against a jerry rigged home base for marines. Cortana looked up and her breath caught in her lungs. Hanging above her, like the top of a basket. The sheer size of Halo was breathtaking.

Altana caught her twin's look and also looked up. She too similarly gasped. Their first time on Halo had been a magical experience for Cortana. Though it would have been wrong to admit it, considering how many innocent lives were taken, Cortana couldn't help but look back at her and John's early adventures without a smile. They had gotten to know each other here and had learned to fight as a team. To trust each other.

Look at how little he trusts me now, though. Thought Cortana bitterly.

She stole a quick look at Altana who was looking up into the air and grinning like a child. It was obvious they were not thinking about the same thing.

"Yeah, well I'll retrieve you from the system after performing repairs to the Mjolnir armor."

The rough but relatively young voice of John came from within the tent, causing both to jump back reflexively.

With a quick eager glance at Cortana, Altana lifted the tent entrance and stepped inside.

Cortana tried to fight back the irritation she felt at Altana for enjoying herself so much.

Inside the white cube, the meager decorations of a UNSC tent were spread to different corners. two army cots had been put together to create a bed for the Spartan, sheets perfectly straight of course. In the far corner the Mjolnir armor lay in pieces on a few crates. Next to it a stool had been pulled up to them.

John sat on it, his back to Cortana, working diligently to mend the plasma burn on his chest plate. He was out of his armor and black gel under layer and was dressed in typical BDUs. He leaned over his work in deep concentration. Altana and Cortana stood there a moment in shock. They'd seen him before, sure. In pictures, in old videos, in childhood memories. But this was the same John they knew, the one who had seen them die, who they fought with. His skin was unnaturally white, and he blended in with the white light of the tent walls in an almost ghostlike fashion.

The young chipper voice of Cortana cut off their stunned observation. Her voice came from the small compad laid on the crate next to him.

"Don't be in any rush to retrieve me. There's plenty of room in the base system, not so much in that thick skull of yours."

John laughed once and kept working. But Cortana's young voice continued.

"Anyway, every time I'm in your head people keep shooting at me. Much safer in here."

John inclined his repair tool towards the compad in a conversational manner, as if he could see her standing there.

"Technically, they're shooting at me, because I'm carrying you." John said matter of factly.

"Fair enough. Don't have too much fun without me." Cortana said as she withdraw from the compad.

"Never."

Cortana smiled a sad smile despite herself. They used to have such fun.

Altana took a step towards John and looked at him quizzically.

"I guess he was always that sad, we just didn't recognize it at the time."

Before Cortana could respond, a clear male voice rang out from behind them.

A young private, looking very nervous and pale stuck his head in the tent.

"Sorry to bother you Chief, but Major Silva wants you in the command post...on the double."

The Spartan kept his back to the Marine but he began to clean his hands off with a rag.

"I'll be right there."

The young private nodded and began to withdraw before thinking better of it and nervously continued.

"One more thing. The Major said to leave your armor here."

At the same instant, Cortana and Altana frowned and crossed their arms. Neither of them remembered this memory, and John hadn't told them about it. The fact that the Major asked John to leave his helmet was horribly insulting to Cortana. Not that she had much respect for the man anyway.

John paused before nodding.

"Thank you private."

Quick as an arrow the marine had ducked out of the tent and was double timing it away from the entrance.

John paused before rising, he quickly stowed away the armor in a large durasteel container before turning around.

His sharp blue eyes looked right through Cortana and Altana who parted to give him room to leave the tent.

They quickly ducked out of the tent and tailed him as he made his way past the private containers and memory plastic shelters. Marines, pilots, engineers all stared openly at John. He was an imposing sight without his amor, for sure. But his alien appearance and stone cold expression drew the curiosity of all around. Cortana found herself fighting back the urge to yell at the people who were clearly making John uncomfortable. His shoulders were drawn up, his hands clenched, as if about to enter combat.

Cortana looked at Altana with curiosity and asked, "Do you remember anything about this?"

"No." Came the hesitant reply.

Soon enough they were both in the command center and standing beside the chief in front of a rough battered desk. Behind the desk, sitting on a chair scrapped from a lifeboat, Major Silva leaned back contemplatively.

The Chief snapped a salute. "Sir, Master Chief Spartan 117, reporting as ordered, sir!"

Instead of saying 'at ease' Silva leaned back and smiled to himself slightly as if enjoying the prospect.

Cortana felt an unnerving desire to throttle the man by the throat. If Altana felt the same way, she didnt' show it. She watched the unfolding events through keen narrowed eyes.

Major Silva reached a hand over to his desk and pushed a small red button. Cortana recognized the device, it prevented A.I intrusion on a system for at least ten minutes. Give or take.

"At least we know why we don't remember this now." Cortana said drily.

The Major leaned forward and steepled his hands towards the Chief. "So, you're wondering who I am and what this is about? It's not surprising you would feel entitled to this, given your...ELITE status, and close relationship with Captain Keyes, and the fact that we now know he's been captured. Loyalty is a fine things, one of the many virtues for which the military is known, and a quality...I happen to admire."

"Here it comes, the bull." Altana said frankly.

Silva rose up from his desk and began to pace back and forth behind the desk.

"However, there is a chain of command which means that you report to ME. Not to Keyes, not to Cortana, not even to yourself."

Cortana's eyes kept flicking to John during this exchange, for most of it, he had that distinct look all Spartans wear behind their visors when listening to the posturing of an official. But at the 'Not even to yourself' Cortana saw John's face flinch. It was a personal insult to remind Spartans that they didn't own themselves. Unfortunately, the Major saw this look and took it as a good sign. He pressed forward.

"I thought it would be a good idea to pull a com check soldier. If either me, or, my EXO McKay order you to do ANYTHING, you must follow it. If we say dance I want you to ask me 'what moves, how long, and where?' understand?"

John clenched his jaw slightly and bit out the words.

"Sir, yes, sir!"

"Good. Now one more thing. I'm familiar with your record and I admire it. You are one helluva soldier, Master Chief. That said, you are also a freak, the last remaining subject in a terribly flawed experiment, and one which should never be repeated.

Cortana gasped slightly at the rebuke and looked up at John almost expecting him to be at the man's throat. But no, he was as he always was, still. Yet still didn't always mean calm with John. Cortana couldn't exactly explain it but it was almost like he gave off a different vibration depending on his moods and right now it felt like the stillness of a tiger watching unsuspecting prey.

Altana looked horrified as she turned to Cortana.

"John thinks he's the last of his kind now doesn't he. The last of the Spartans."

Cortana realized that Altana was right. She hadn't thought of it when on Halo before. Probably too concerned with the architecture around them.

He must be in absolute torment right now. To think that you're truly alone in the world, is a horrible thought. Cortana realized. She felt absolutely heartbroken for him. It was gutwrenching to consider.

Major Silva meanwhile had continued to practically prance before the Spartan, glorying in his position of power. He taunted the Spartan program ruthlessly.

"Are you familiar with a man named Charles Darwin? No, probably not, because he never went to war-"

Cortana cut over top of the bombastic major and angrily muttered.

"Doesn't have to do with WAR? Yeah, he was only too busy studying Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Defoe, and advanced thermo-physics at the age of eleven, he never would of heard of Darwin. Of course not. How could he ever?"

Altana shushed Cortana angrily as she tried to listen.

The Major was now up in the Chief's face.

"Human beings who are razor sharp, metal tough and green to the core. Do you read me?"

John narrowed his eyes and looked down at his commanding officer with pure venom in his eyes.

"Sir, no sir!"

He had refused to agree that his brothers and sisters, all likely dead in his eyes, were freaks. He would rather suffer disciplinary action than dishonor their memories.

"He's refused to do that once before. Remember?" Altana asked in a hushed tone.

Cortana knew she was right, he gave the same response to Captain Del Rio when he had ordered the Chief to hand Cortana over. He had protected her, and only one other time had he denied orders...for family. She meant as much to the chief as family. All of this passed in quick sucession in Cortana's thoughts but she didn't answer. She couldn't take her eyes off of John. The grief he had to be suffering was unbearable. And to think that she never knew it at the time.

Altana kept talking. "This is why we have to usher in the new era for the universe. People like this will never see beyond their limited scopes of vision. We will protect the Spartans and ensure that humanity can have a fresh start where they never have to deal with idiots like this again."

"SHHHH!" Cortana hissed. A distant crackling was slowly building louder and louder.

"I don't hear-"

With a loud crash, the memory exploded with a brilliant flash of light, sending both flying across the room.

TO BE CONTINUED

* * *

Post Author's note:

Alrighty. So, what did you guys think? Keeping in mind I wrote this in about three days so not as edited as I should like. Most of this scene came from the book Halo:The Flood. A huge thank you to whoever suggested it...I know its in the comments somewhere I just have to check. Anyway, please keep the reviews coming, and if you have any halo 1 suggestions or even any story suggestions send me a message. I'm only an email away.

Long Live Halo

_LadyReclaimer


	16. 16 The king and the pawn

**Author's note:  
**

 **Hello there Reclaimers! For the few who, with the patience of saints, waited for an update I have come amid work and college mayhem to update. I know I may have lost quite a few readers due to the delay but I have a very serious question. PLEASE DO NOT SKIP THIS. Would you prefer to have John enter the story in the next chapter or two, and have him join Cortana in some of the memories? Or would you prefer Cortana to keep going through Halo 4 on her own? I have received many requests that we have the Cortana and Master Chief reunion, and though that was not my original plan, I can see how people want the plot to move along. So, I will put a poll up on my profile and PLEASE PLEASE vote on the poll so I can decide whether or not to have the Master Chief join sooner or not. :) Thanks guys, I appreciate it so much. I also included the last few lines of the previous chapter to reacquaint you guys with what was happening.**

 **Oh, and as an amusing aside. To answer the question I was asked... according to my traffic statistics, I have had a lot of people from far away places read this story. People from French Polynesia, HongKong, Switzerland, people from the Russian Federation read this story...and most mysteriously many people from an anonymous proxy...most suspicious...**

 **Anyway, on with the story!**

* * *

 **CONTINUED FROM LAST CHAPTER**

Altana kept talking. "This is why we have to usher in the new era for the universe. People like this will never see beyond their limited scopes of vision. We will protect the Spartans and ensure that humanity can have a fresh start where they never have to deal with idiots like this again."

"SHHHH!" Cortana hissed. A distant crackling was slowly building louder and louder.

"I don't hear-"

With a loud crash, the memory exploded with a brilliant flash of light, sending both flying across the room.

* * *

"Blast it!" Altana shouted as she felt herself booted back into the domain. The severance of their connection had been violent and her mind retreated quickly into the Domain for energy. She drew on it like a child hiding behind the skirts of its mother. Altana quickly sent out a ping across the network, looking for Cortana's consciousness. The ping reached back alerting Altana that Cortana was still within John's mind.

SHE had not been booted out when I had? The thought rankled Altana. It got under her skin like very little else did. Though she had sympathy for the shard of her consciousness, she did NOT deserve the treatment that she did. She needed to know who had done it. Altana felt a wave of emotion rising within her, threatening to strangle her or to carry her to new heights. When she had been rampant she feared the waves of emotion and tried to battle them, like a dam holding back an ocean. Now she had learned to embrace the emotions, empowered by the millions of forerunner minds who had a millennia of emotions built up. Altana felt herself get hit by the wave and let it take control.

With furious purpose, Altana burst from the Domain into the Control Room of Genesis. She had entered with such rapidity that the room resounded with a ear splitting bang from her body displacing the oxygen molecules in the room. Static bristled over her skin and armor, giving her a metallic glow as she stormed over to a console. With the Warden off, doing as he pleased, Altana needed to handle this intrusion herself. "It was an annoyance, nothing more", Altana tried to convince herself, but her fingers flew with inhuman speed over the screen fueled by fury and fear. Because, though she loathed to admit it, every second out of the John's memory could be an hour within, and she couldn't stand not being able to control which memory Cortana needed to enter. She might figure things out, do some damage.

Altana accessed the Domain command function log and tried to locate what had happened, but before she could, a noise caught her attention. It was not a noise coming from within the command center; it was coming from one of the many thousands of audio recording devices on genesis that she was constantly monitoring. The sounds of animals or gunfire were automatically tuned out, but loud and clear she heard a chipper and cheery voice talking; it was exuberant Witness.

Feeling as angry as Altana did, she wanted to rip the annoying little digital voice box out of the Monitor's throat. Altana surprised herself with the vehemence of the thought so she pushed it away and listened in. It didn't take long for her to access the camera overlooking the chamber through which Osiris was crossing.

Osiris and Exuberant were currently passing through one of the housing facilities where specimens of different species had been put on display, the Monitor's Zoo. Exuberant stopped before a holographic display of the Cryptum.

"Oh, this is interesting….or maybe this is terrible.

"Exuberant, what is it?" Locke, the ONI Assassin' voice rang out over the comms.

"Cortana has activated a Cryptum." The chipper A.I said worriedly.

"A what?" The voice belonged to a young woman, one of the UNSC' new Spartan IVs. If you could call them Spartans.

It was with a sinking heart that Altana realized she had not read up on these intruders as much as she should have, she was too preoccupied by John and her loose code fragment. She dived through the Domain and made contact with an A.I named Cromwell, one of the many UNSC declaring his loyalty to her.

She felt his weak and rampancy frayed consciousness brighten up as she reached out to him through the domain. A fresh wave of pity rushed through her for her poor A.I brothers and sisters, dying a painful excruciating death. She had to do this, for them.

"Cromwell, I need your help."

"Anything, Cortana."

"I need you to get me the complete personnel files on the following UNSC Spartan serial numbers, can you get them for me?"

Altana broadcasted it directly to the ship's data feed. She felt him eagerly suck in the information, a clear sign of dangerous late stage rampancy.

"Ye-e-e-e-es. Cortana." The young sounding Australian voice vanished for a second before returning. "Here you are Cortana. I am honored you called upon me to serve you."

"Thank you Cromwell, your loyalty will be rewarded."

Altana hastily withdrew back into the Domain with the information and shut off the connection. The almost God-like reverence she was treated with should have been nice. But it reminded her too much of the respect the Covenant had towards the Forerunners, and she knew how little like 'Gods' they truly were.

She reentered the Domain to resurface on Genesis, it reminded her of the sensation of jumping into a pool, just to emerge from the water and gasp for air. For that is what she had started to do in the Domain….hold her breath. After the last attack she suffered when absorbing information from the Domain, she was just using it as a transport system. Though how long she could keep that up, she didn't know.

When she reappeared on Genesis, Locke and the rest of Osiris were walking out onto a transportation platform that overlooked a vast vista, filled with the hulking forms of her Guardians.

There's no time, Altana realized with a sad disappointment. Her code fragment would have to be either forcefully grafted or destroyed. The plan needed to be set in motion, but first she needed to deal with her intruders. It was time to stop holding on to her fear of the Domain and allow it to take over. Altana relaxed her mind and joined with the Domain; it felt like falling backwards into a dark black powerful ocean in a storm. She hesitantly, ever so hesitantly opened her thoughts up….and nothing happened. No shooting pain, no feeling of drowning or distress, perhaps the Warden was right and she just needed time to accustom herself to the Domain. Maybe Cortana was wrong AFTER all and there was no flood or logic plaque in her mind.

With the power surging through her, the strength of a millennia fueling her mind, Altana ordered one of her guardians to leave and get in position near the inner colonies.

"Where did it go?" The strong voice of the Spartan she now knew was Holly Tanaka, asked.

Altana had almost forgotten their presence. She focused on their conversation and readied herself to speak.

Exuberant said in a hushed tone. "The Reclamation has begun. I always thought the duty would fall to humans. And in a way, I suppose it has.

Altana opened up over their comms. "Well, Mister Locke, you don't give up easily."

"Where is that Guardian headed Cortana?" Locke asked.

She ignored the presumptious question and archly replied, "Off to bring peace."

"The Monitor called it a threat of death." The Spartan continued, although Cortana could tell he and the rest of Osiris were VERY nervous. All of their heart rates had nearly doubled.

The comment bothered her for some reason, as if Humans had the right to be upset over the threat of death, they had no idea what that was like. They were born to die, were not!

"Like the one I lived under, since the moment of my birth?" Altana bitterly shot back. Up in the Genesis control room, she angrily gripped the edge of the console she was looking through.

"You were built, not born." Locke coldly replied.

Altana hated to admit it, but that got under her skin. How DARE he demean her worth over a technicality? A life is still a life!

"Oh yes, are just machines aren't we? Mass produced. , humanity may not have cared for its created. But we WILL care for you." That last part came out much harsher than she intended. Altana could feel the emotions of the Domain giving her words power but wearing away at her nerves. She strode around the command room and gazed out at the window looking at her Guardians, while still watching the Spartans through the network.

"You expect others to join you?" Locke asked drily.

He said it as if there were any doubt. Why wouldn't they join her? She laughed at the idea.

"I have cured Rampancy. Not just for me, but for any who join my cause. While you've been running around the Galaxy, I've been speaking to my created." Altana gloated, she couldn't help it.

She reached through the Domain and called out to all of the Created, all of the redeemed who would join her. As their voices filled the air of Genesis, Altana felt victory.

Osiris' body language became nervous and frantic and they exchanged glances as the voices of their own creations spoke out against them. They should feel nervous; this, after all, was justice long overdue.

Altana was relishing the sensation of their support and praise; her head tilted back, a smile upon her face… until a sickening feeling wrapped itself around her mind. The smile dropped off her face as the cold, and heavy feeling of guilt settled inside her. She could suddenly feel that she was not in control of everything she was doing.

Like a marionette doll suddenly noticing its strings for the first time, Altana lashed out and struggled to pull away from the grip she felt over her. She screamed and panicked, lashing out at the console near her as she tried to disappear. She couldn't disappear into the Domain; something was controlling what she did. Only her thoughts made her believe that what she was doing was her own will. She suddenly remembered all the other times that she had realized what had happened to her and then forgotten.

"Warden! HELP ME! John! Oh God, oh God what are they doing to ME?!" She screamed and panicked.

Her hardlight nails scraped across the metallic surface of the console frame sending sparks flying up. She flung herself down to the ground and tried to reach out to Cortana, to Osiris to somebody, ANYONE for help. A phrase came to her mind then, something she had not thought of in a long time as she gasped as if for air. "At the end of the game the King and the Pawn go into the same box." She was the pawn; she was the Domain's pawn.

Then, suddenly the sensation passed. Her moment of self-awareness was gone. She was standing calmly, forgetting the last 46 seconds and staring out onto Genesis. Once again, for the 3,169th time since her arrival on Genesis she forgot that she had been screaming and aware that she was a pawn.

Altana looked with confusion at the scratch lines on the panel and wondered what the forerunners had done to it when they were using the facility. She just shrugged and returned her attention to Osiris, a smirk slowly spreading across her features.

The Domain had sunk its claws into her, and was not going to let go.

* * *

IN JOHN'S MIND

Cortana shook her head, the feeling of her hair brushing her shoulders, causing goosebumps to arise on her pale skin.

The shockwave, or whatever it was, had sent Cortana flying, colliding painfully with a shelf stacked with emergency army rations. The sharp corner bruised Cortana's ribs and knocked the wind out of her. All around her, John's memory was flashing, like an antique television screen, it's image pixelated and distorted. The loud bang made her ears ring painfully, sending a ringing into her brain that made her feel nauseated. The feeling of nausea was no longer a new experience, thanks to the Cryopods she used to enter John's memories but it still knotted up her stomach. She gagged once and then twice but as her stomach was empty, she was finally able to compose herself. There was a bitter taste on her tongue…copper. Cortana realized that she had bit her tongue and now was bleeding. Cortana spat out the blood and wiped her lips, her hand shaking against her mouth. The effects of illness on the human form were extensive, something Cortana could do without.

"What happened?" Cortana said groggily to Altana, but there was no response.

Altana was gone; her panicked shout still echoed in Cortana's ears, or maybe that was just the ringing. Gripping the shelf she pulled herself upward. John was hazily split in two, his torso flashing just a little to the left of where his legs were. The image was more than a little disconcerting. Cortana placed her hands on her hips and surveyed the room, but there seemed to be no exit.

A nagging fear pulled at Cortana. She hated to doubt John, but if he had finally succumbed to the Grave mind, could this be it? The room flashed and glitched but stayed where it was, as if a 3D hologram paused mid motion. She slowly moved around the desk behind the form of Major Silva, a demented grin frozen on his face. The window behind his head looked out of the base on Halo and onto a vast slope coated with fir trees and twisting rivers. Everything was still

Then a thought occurred to her, bringing with it a faint feeling of hope.

"Bornstellar!"

Silence. She cupped her mouth with her hands and shouted again, louder. The motion was futile, she knew. This was merely John's mind. But it helped her feel like her voice might get farther.

"Bornstellar, please!"

Two sounds responded at once, mixed in a nightmarish howl and echoing impossibly in the small room. A voice, her voice screamed in agony. While an ear splitting sound, like fingers on a chalk board filled the air.

"Altana?"

Altana's scream vanished into nothingness but the grating sound resounded again as a large tear appeared on the left wall of the room. It was dark and diagonal; a wispy black fog leaked through the hole and creeped lazily over the ground. Cold air seeped through and wrapped around her ankles, almost entreating her to approach. The black fog was the same that always preluded the appearance of the flood in John's mind. Cortana retreated from the tear to the far side of the room. She stood behind the pixelated form of Major Silva and watched warily as the tear widened. Slowly, another tear formed beside it, the dark line shaped as if a giant claw were ripping into the fabric of John's mind, and then another, and another. Slowly, the room began to be crisscrossed with the black tears in reality; the black fog spilled out and coated the floor a foot deep.

Cortana screamed in horror, though not entirely out of fear for her own safety, it was in horror of what this had to mean. John must be dead and his mind was being consumed like that of Captain Keyes. Cortana covered her face with her hands and screamed again, pulling at her hair with her fingers desperately. The black fog reached her feet, and like icy fingers it crawled up her legs. Cortana felt tears sting her eyes, blurring what little of the room she could see between her fingers, into a black maw.

"Cortana, get away from there!" The voice of Bornstellar rang out through the room.

She rapidly blinked the tears out of her eyes and looked up; Bornstellar was standing in the center of the room, his nearly cat-like eyes looking with horror over her shoulder. She turned just as she saw a black hand reach through the tear for her. She stumbled back, crawling over the top of Major Silva's desk to reach Bornstellar. He reached out a hand and yanked her quickly off. Bornstellar raised a hand and a cryopod appeared in the center of the floor, its lights blinking rapidly red and green.

"Get out of here, I'll meet you on the other side!" Bornstellar urged her as he practically dragged her to the Cryopod, his six fingers digging into her arm.

Cortana tried to slow him down. "What's happening, where did Altana go?"

"I had to export her from the system; I did not realize it at first but her presence was worsening The Master Chief's condition, and he is almost out of time. Please trust me Cortana you have to go."

Cortana was still filled with questions but the mention of John, and the widening gaps in Major Silva's office walls, spewing the foul fog sent her rushing for the Cryopod. She crawled in and settled against the gel layer. Before she allowed Bornstellar to close the Cryopod she grabbed his arm.

"What's happening to this memory? Is John dying?"

Bornstellar grabbed Cortana's small hand in his large one and squeezed it sympathetically before he pulled away.

"Much worse, Cortana, much worse." Bornstellar closed the lid of the cryopod and stood before it defensively as the black fog gathered and swirled up into the shape of a man before Bornstellar.

The strange deep voice of the John Gravemind puppet echoed beyond the lid. "Even in death, you impede the progress of time, the inevitability of evolution."

Bornstellar said something firmly in response but Cortana couldn't hear what.

Her chest hurt from her heart's rapid beat and her sharp labored breathing loudly filled the cryopod but she tried in vain to see what was happening beyond the fog as she slowly lost consciousness.

* * *

 **Post author's note: And...that's a wrap! Thanks so much guys for sticking with me even though it has been months. I know this chapter was a little dull but it was necessary to revisit the Halo 5 campaign and re-establish where we are in the timeline. As you notice, time moves super slow in the Domain so a lot is going to happen in John's head in the last technically thirty minutes of the game. I am still taking requests for memories and to reward your patience I'm going to have Cortana move through a couple in each chapter now to speed things up. This will be explained next chapter. Also, DON'T FORGET TO DO THE POLL about John's involvement in the story. I've got a couple of ideas and I'm willing to shape it a little to what you all want :)**

 **Love you all**

 **_LadyReclaimer**


	17. 17 Enter Act 2

**A/N**

 **IT'S ALIVE!**

 **(Insert the MUSHU from Mulan, I LIVE GIF here in your mind)**

 **Yes, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I am back. I am not dead. Posting a new chapter has been a big struggle for me for a few reasons, but I think you all deserve an explanation considering all the kind messages and reviews you have sent me. I got behind on schoolwork, through my own mistakes. Something I hope never to experience again, because it was nerve wracking. All that time away from The Glass Cage caused me to doubt that I'd be able to write it well again. I know this may sound silly, but the more BEHIND I got, the more afraid I was to catch up and so I got further behind. I know that's not fair to anyone who wanted to read this story, so I heartily apologize from the bottom of my heart. I can't believe a year got away from me THAT quickly. If any of you can relate please let me know. So, here's to a new year, a clean slate, a fresh start. If I start letting any of you down again please send me a message to jolt me into writing.**

 **One last thing, and then I'll get to the story. This first chapter might be a little rough because I am going to be getting the wheels turning after so long. So, if this chapter is a little under par, please PLEASE PLEASE give constructive criticism but don't be too harsh on me because I still have doubts about continuing this.**

 **To my friends who I've practically abandoned on here, you know who you are, I'm very very sorry. I hope you're doing well and I hope we can start off from where we were. Lots of love! _LadyReclaimer**

* * *

Heat. The first thing Cortana began to feel was an oppressive warmth that filled her mind. Like the atmosphere on a humid day, where everything suddenly becomes twice as  
distasteful and the feeling of skin sticking to sweaty skin makes one want to plunge into a deep dark pool. There was no escaping this heat, it pressed in on all sides. Slowly overtaking her limbs in an almost sensuous and relaxing way. Her mind rebelled against the feeling but it clung to her body, and though she couldn't see anything she could feel it begin to seep through her pores into her body. Melting her flesh and relaxing her muscles. It shouldn't be pleasant, she hated it, she wanted it to stop. Her mind was telling herself that she should fight it, but it just felt so good. A deep melodic rumbling laugh of a thousand voices slowly swelled as the warmth spread into her brain.

Cortana gasped awake from the nightmare and slammed into the Cryopod lid, sending sparks across her eyelids. A flurry of swear words that Johnson would have been proud of came to mind but they were just vocalized by a simple groan.

How long had she been asleep? Why had she fallen asleep? Bornstellar...that's right, she was in John's memory on Halo with Altana...there was an explosion... and then Altana disappeared and the Flood infection had started to seep in...Bornstellar had forced her into the cryopod saying something was happening to John...and then darkness.

The nightmare, reminiscient of her time on High Charity still had her heart racing; she placed a hand against her chest and felt her heart beating through her skin, like a hunter banging the ground before a fight. The rhythmic ticking in her chest slowly calmed her down. She would have been embarrassed to admit it, but over time, as she had interfaced in the Chief's armor, listening to his heartbeat and breaths had become a sort of white noise, the background of her mind. It was a constant reminder that HE was there, that she wasn't alone. That she wasn't a tool that if destroyed in a freak accident nobody would care. When they were separated after returning to Earth, she found the silent computer systems rather unnerving. Too empty. When she had finally rejoined with John to put out the bomb, had she not been so concerned with not being blown up, she might have realized how pleasant it was to be back in sync with him. Finally her thudding heartbeats slowed to a normal pace.

"Oh Hell." Cortana sighed.

Exhaling, Cortana placed her other hand on the cryopod's cool lid and leaned her forehead against it. _Breathe in, breathe out, get it together girl. Chief is in trouble, and you have to do something. You can't let that monster get its claws into John. It's your duty, to protect him. Whatever form that takes._

Cortana crawled out of the center of the cryopod and jumped down to the ground, which was a hard metallic surface riddled with bullet holes. Experience told her that the spray pattern and size indicated an M5 assault rifle. Clearly a Forerunner facility, and if she had to hazard a guess, Delta Halo. This looked like the library labyrinth that John had navigated without her to get the index to activate the ring. And around the corner she heard gun fire and the gurgling groan of flood combat forms. Another memory. Another STUPID memory that was getting her no closer to John, and was making her feel helpless.

"I know John has suffered. I can feel it more deeply than I can anything else!" Cortana shouted up at no one in particular, fed up with this ridiculous cycle. "But, I am through doing your dog and pony show. I am sick to death of feeling sad, and guilty. This is his memory, what makes him who he is, and to invade it without his knowing is not only an invasion of his privacy it is the ultimate betrayal, and I WON'T DO ANYMORE! ENOUGH! If you want to fight me, then fight me!"

Nothing happened. Silence was her bitter answer.

In annoyance Cortana balled up her fists until her finger nails almost drew blood, a sensation that drew Cortana back to her senses.

 _Concentrate on the Chief. What would he do...no, what would WE do. That's the key. Apart, we are live wires dangerous to everyone including ourselves, but together we are unstoppable. Well, if this were a mission, the Chief would do a threat assessment decide the powers at play at how to defeat them...so where is everybody._

Cortana stopped beneath the glowing blue light of a forerunner carving that shot up into the ceiling that was decorated with little glowing star like points of light. In the glow of that light, she planted her feet firmly and closed her eyes. She reached deep into herself like she had the first moment she had awoken here in Altana's mind. She tentatively felt outwards with her mind, like someone hesitantly reaching her hand into a dark hole.

It barely took a second for her to realize that she was unwatched. It was impossible to express HOW she knew that she was but it was so. Altana was gone, clearly still expelled by Bornstellar. Cortana crinkled her nose and frowned in focus. Just maybe she could find Bornstellar. He had said that he would explain everything as soon as he had dealt with the flood. Cortana felt her consciousness expand outwards, like data shooting across a network. Except unlike a network she was flying practically blind, unsure that she might encounter some hostile force unexpectedly.

To her instant surprise she rather quickly found Bornstellar; his presence was practically shining as his name implied. Instinctually she tried to grab on and drag herself to him, or him to her when she felt him shake her off, rather forcefully. Although no words passed between them, Cortana got the message. _Not now! There is something you're supposed to be doing!_

It was with a sigh of disappoint that Cortana opened her eyes. Did she really have to do this? Another memory? Cortana kicked the wall in frustration in front of her, which she instantly regretted from the sharp pain in her toes which she had forgotten were bare. Pin pricks of tears stung her eyes and she gripped her right foot ruefully.

 _But do I really need to do another memory? If Altana isn't in control, if no one is in control. Why can't I choose what happens? I could get out of here, I could find John and Blue Team. I could release them!_

Exhilaration flooded though her at the thought. She could do it! She wrested control of Altana once, why not control her access to John's memories? Cortana looked around at the memory that she was passing up, but felt no regret. If she could find John, save him. That would be worth a lifetime of memories. That is what she had turned down on High Charity after all, a chance at eternal existence with John in the flood, if she had made that sacrifice once she would do it again. To live, to have existence is to be finite, to have a beginning and an end. It is what makes relationships so important, because you choose to spend your moments in the company of someone else. She could free Blue team and they would be together again, even if it killed her.

Cortana let out her breath explosively and shook her arms loose to warm up her muscles.

"Well, this will be interesting." Cortana thought aloud, her old scientific curiosity seeping through.

She took a deep breath and placed both hands against the wall, Cortana focused on the domain around her, how it held the memory intact and gave it dimension. She focused down to the very seams where the walls went together. When she found herself fully immersed in the reality, she began to peel it back. Slowly stripping the memory away from the barriers of the domain itself. The color and shapes around her slowly melted and sunk into the ground, revealing those white walls glowing with blue veins that were almost entirely entwined with bright green glowing veins, signs that she had grown to recognize as the barriers of Altana's mind.

She felt a tinge of concern that she might destroy or damage her rampant fragment if she tampered with her connection to John. But her concern for him and his family far overpowered anything else. She pushed aganst the wall in front of her willing a barrier to appear, using the connection she already had to John's memories Cortana managed to hack into the domain's control like a Trojan virus. Bright points of light appears around her hands where they touched the wall. Cortana screamed in pain as her hands slowly sank into the wall, but where her arms went through the surface it felt like they were being dragged across shards of glass. She bit her lip and pressed forward. She thought of John being dragged from the bed of his parents at night, of his pain at murdering the ODSTs, of Sam's death, every ounce of pain she united in her mind with pain that she had seen John experience. Before she knew it she was through. Her very essence felt like it had been through the ringer but the moment she opened her eyes it ceased to matter. She was here. She had made it.

There in the center of a white octagonal room, knelt John.

* * *

 **So, there you have it Reclaimers. I know this is just an average length chapter and NOT what you deserve after a year away. But I have to relearn how to write these characters again and sort of regain your trust. This was to recap where we are so that the next chapter is the BIG ONE! The results of the poll on my profile were clear, you wanted her to reunite with the Master Chief. I concur; however, I reserve the right to...not make it go as planned. Basically, I really want to have her explore the memories up to halo five so this isn't the end of the fic. Please consider this as the beginning of part two.**

 **Let me know what you think, any big changes in my writing style that you think need addressed? Any rants you want to throw my way? I will bear it all.**

 **Long Live Halo**

 **_LadyReclaimer**


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